EDINBURGH marched into the quarter-finals of the European Challenge Cup with this comprehensive demolition of Bordeaux-Begles, the team they stunned on the tournament's opening weekend, recording their highest score of the pool stage as they delivered their most impressive performance.
The capital outfit also gave themselves a decent chance of securing a home tie (as one of the to four seeds) in the knockout stages as they picked up a four-try bonus along the way, although they will not know their fate on that front until the rest of the weekend's matches have been played. Whatever happens, they will still be in Europe when the competition resumes in April.
The scale of the achievement should not be underestimated. Bordeaux-Begles currently hold fifth pace in the French Top 14 championship, with sides of the quality of Toulouse and Montpellier trailing in their wake. Earlier this season, they also put 51 points past Clermont Auvergne.
Scrum-half Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, who was brought into Scotland's RBS 6 Nations squad earlier this week, put in another hugely impressive shift, scoring two tries, two conversions and four penalties for a personal haul of 28 points. It was the least surprising moment of the evening when he was named Man of the Match a few minutes from the end.
Edinburgh had ended the first half with a 14-6 lead that was only a modest reflection of their overall superiority in that period. They had taken the game to their French opponents from the off and dominated all but the few moments when Bordeaux-Begles interrupted the flow to allow Lionel Beauxis to clip over a couple of penalties.
Hidalgo-Clyne had already established himself as Edinburgh's star in that period. The scrum-half celebrated his elevation to the international set with an assured kicking display that harvested three penalties, but his best moment came in the 27th minute when he bided his time behind Edinburgh's driving maul then pounced down the blindside for their first try.
Hidalgo-Clyne stretched Edinburgh's lead with his fourth penalty, two minutes into the second half, and the result was pretty much put beyond doubt soon afterwards when Matt Scott, following up a charge by Ali Dickinson, burrowed into the ruck and stretched the ball over the line for the second try.
To their credit, the Bordeaux-Begles' heads did not go down and they stunned the home fans in the 53rd minute when replacement fly-half Pierre Bernard threaded a kick over the line for captain and full-back Baptiste Serin to follow up and score.
Normal service was soon resumed, however, and prop WP Nel put Edinburgh within touching distance of a bonus point when he ploughed over for the third try in the 57th minute. Eight minutes later, Hidalgo-Clyne put that icing on the capital cake when he went over for his second try, Edinburgh's fourth.
Bernard went over for another Bordeaux touchdown five minutes from the end, but Edinburgh were back-pedalling by then.
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