A WIN'S a win and after losing three on the trot plus one of his star players in the week, Alan Solomons the Edinburgh head coach, was quietly satisfied with a job done efficiently enough – though with a hint of frustration that they came close to a scoring bonus but failed to get it.

That, though is quibbling. In foul conditions, the real winner was probably storm Abigail. With the temperature hovering only just above freezing and the rain arriving in time for kick off, it was a miserable night for anyone to try to play rugby and the idea of trying anything fancy was just about out of the question.

It was just the kind of night made for a big, powerful ball-carrying forward – a player like, say, David Denton. But we are in the post-Denton era at Edinburgh now and the option of using is bullock-style charges to inflict the damage went south with him.

Still, the rest of the forwards delivered big time and, with their power obvious throughout the game and winning fulsome praise from Solomons. "The conditions did not help," he said. "We scrummed really well and that was the key factor in winning the game, the scrum played a major, major role in that game.

"The front row were outstanding, they made a massive difference. No matter who Grenoble put on, they were under siege in the scrum and to me that was the key factor in the match. The line out maul was much better too – you have to be fair, Alex Toolis was calling the line out in only his second full game and there was a big improvement there."

It all seemed to go to plan in the opening phases as scrum penalties went their way, allowing them to kick for touch and set up a couple of mauls on the Grenoble line, the second time driving it over the line for Cornell du Preez, the No8, to touch down.

That might have been the cue for Edinburgh to relax and take charge of the game but they are not good enough to take anything for granted and in fact, Grenoble had just as much of the next spell of the game, played out mainly between the two 22s with both sides relying on kicks, rather than handling, to win the territorial battle.

The few times the Scots did try to use their backs, they found themselves going backwards, but they did find themselves a man up when Fabien Alexandre, the Grenoble flanker, came offside to tackle Hidalgo-Clyne without the ball, and was sent to the sin bin.

Edinburgh already had the better of the scrums but with that advantage were ruthless in driving home that advantage for Hidalgo-Clyne to add two penalties and give his side a solid advantage at the break and, extending it further when the teams returned.

Grenoble did take a leaf from the Edinburgh playbook to maul their way to the home line but they had to settle for a penalty, kicked by James Hart, the scrum half, and in reply the Scots really should have made more of a break from Dougie Fife, the full back, who only needed his pass to Will Helu, the centre to go to hand for a try – it was too far in front of his support player and the chance was gone.

The French reprieve did not last long as the Edinburgh power paid dividends again, setting up camp on the opposition line and getting a penalty try after too many scrums went down with the Scots motoring towards the line.

That should have been that, but you discount this side's capacity for blunder at your peril. They were on the attack with a dangerous looking move when Matt Scott dropped the ball. He and all his teammates stopped; the Grenoble players spotted an opportunity and Daniel Kilioni, the wing, picked up and ran 70 yards for the try.

It was not enough to make much difference as Edinburgh returned to plan A and soon grabbed their third try. It had been set up by a clever chip from Sen Kennedy, the replacement scrum half, with Grenoble wing Martino Nemani being penalised for failing to release the ball when he was trapped near his own line.

He compounded his mistake by using a swear word to the referee, enough to earn him a red card, and give Edinburgh a man advantage for the final minutes. Given the destruction they had wrought against a full-strength side, there was a sense of inevitability when they kicked for the line out, turned it into a maul and Du Preez broke off the back for his second try of the night. By then, most of the fans and all the players had their minds firmly set on the warmth of the changing room.

Edinburgh: Tries: du Preez (5, 78), pen try (60). Cons: Hidalgo-Clyne 2, Tonks. Pens: Hidalgo-Clyne (32, 39, 43)

Grenoble: Try: Kilioni (69). Con: Bosch. Pen: Hart (48) Scoring sequence (Edinburgh first): 5-0, 8-0, 11-0 (half time), 14-0, 14-3, 21-3, 21-10, 28-10.

Edinburgh: D Fife; D Hoyland, W Helu (C Dean, 70), M Scott, T Brown; G Tonks, S Hidalgo-Clyne (S Kennedy, 65); A Dickinson (R Sutherland, 61), R Ford (N Cochrane, 61), WP Nel (J Andress, 65), A Bresler, A Toolis, M Coman (C) (N Manu, 49), J Hardie (H Watson, 61), C Du Preez.

Grenoble: C Gelin; T Nemani (sent off: 65), C Farrell, J Willison (X Mignot, 50), D Kilioni; G Bosch (S Taumalolo, 50), J Hart (C) (C Loustalot, 62); F Barcella (W Desmaison, 23), L Jammes (A Heguy, 62), K Goze, J Percival (B Hand, 50), M Marie, M Diaby, F Alexandre (sin bin: 29-39), D Hayes.

Referee: B Whitehouse (Wales)

Attendance: 3,260