A thrashing, every bit as comprehensive as it sounds. Edinburgh ran riot in Moscow and the Russians, who had beaten Stade Francais, the reigning European Challenge Cup holders, the week before, had no answer.

It really was that simple. For once, Edinburgh stopped their opponents getting a foothold in the game, stifling Krasny Yar with a flurry of tries in the opening quarter that put the result out of sight, then settling back to enjoy themselves.

The result: a club European record for points scored [beating the 59-17 win in Timisoara last year]; and winning margin [overtaking 49-3 in the return match against Timisoara]. They also set a new European mark of 10 tries in a game, beating the nine against Timisoara and their nine conversions plus the automatic extra points for a penalty try were also a record.

So, a good afternoon's work that left Richard Cockerill, the head coach, feeling broadly satisfied with the overall shape of the game while acknowledging that things are going to be a lot tougher when they travel to face Benetton Treviso, who have already won in Edinburgh, at the weekend.

Where he found particular encouragement was in the form of the youngsters he was forced to bring into the team thanks to the disciplinary issues that have dogged the club over the last couple of weeks.

With Magnus Bradbury, the captain and flanker, still under investigation for a late-night incident that left him with a head knock that would have ruled him out of playing even if he had not been suspended pending an internal investigation and John Hardie, the openside specialist, also suspended, they were short of back row numbers.

Add in that Hamish Watson is still recovering from injury and Cockerill was running out of options when he elected to promote 20-year-old Luke Crosbie, giving him his first start at openside alongside Lewis Carmichael, normally a lock, at blindside.

"The two back row young lads played very, very well," he remarked afterwards. "Cornell [Du Preez] also had a strong game."

Barring the ridiculous homer instincts of the Russian media, who were determined to give the man of the match award to one of their own despite the scoreline, Crosbie and Carmichael should have led the battle for that prize, with Crosbie probably shading it but his colleague not far behind.

It may be the making of Carmichael's career. There is a certain similarity in him to Rob Harley over at Glasgow Warriors in that he is huge by normal standards – 6ft 5ins and almost 18 stone – but a bit of a midget compared to some of the monsters who inhabit the dark realms of the second row these days.

He is also athletic, as he showed when on a loan deal to the Western Force in Australia and again in this game where he was more than capable of outsprinting the home defence on a 40 metre run-in for the third Edinburgh try.

"That try at the start really set me up for the game," he said. "I was trying to get my hands on the ball as much as I could and getting the try helped to get me into the game so that I could enjoy myself. It was good running rugby today and the boys scored a lot of tries.

"It was a tough place to come, there was the travel and all that plus they had a good win last week over Stade Francais. We were coming into it really focused. We had a good first half and that gave us licence to play in the second half."

Does he see the move as permanent? "I will play where I am told," he replied. "I am happy playing six or in the second row and I have played a little bit at eight as well. I don’t really mind where I play, In the back row or in the second row — as long as I am playing. I’ll play anywhere – if it was the wing I would still be happy! It was really good to get the first game under my belt."

The main worry for Edinburgh is over Jason Tovey, who was carried off on a stretcher but may not be as badly hurt as that sounds. Certainly after Blair Kinghorn and Sam Hidalgo-Clyne had got the early ties with Carmichael adding the third running off Junior Rasolea, the centre, the back line did not look as sharp after he went off.

The rest of the game was dominated by the forwards with five of the remaining tries going to front rive forwards as well as a penalty try for collapsing a maul rumbling towards the line.

With Duncan Weir also injured, Cockerill is hoping Tovey makes a miracle recovery, or Hidalgo-Clyne could be asked to remember his schooldays before he switched from fly half to scrum half.