IT looked like a scene out of a television hospital drama, casualties flooding in as overworked medical staff struggled to cope with stress levels rising.

Only this was no fiction, it was the real-life scene at Murrayfield the last time Edinburgh played Lyon.

Yet, mused Phil Burleigh, who set off the avalanche of injuries when he tore a knee ligament, in the odd way these things can work, it may have been something of a breakthrough in the club's season. They had won their previous two games, then triumphed in that one despite all the disruption, and have lost only three games since that clash in October.

Now, as they prepare for the return match, they are one of only three teams from the 40 involved in European competition who still have a 100% record and in the happy position of knowing that a win in France would just about ensure qualification for the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup.

"That was probably the turning point in how we have gone in the last few weeks," said Burleigh, the New Zealand back who joined from the Highlanders in the summer. "We had had a bad run with injuries and all that, so winning that game gave us a lot of confidence going into the next few weeks. That has shown in the way we have been playing.

"The first 10 minutes was some of the best rugby we have played, we were about 13-0 up when we started to get all those injuries. Our attack has got a lot better since then, though we are still making a few mistakes in the opposition 22, but if we fix those mistakes we will start to get a few bonus points."

The frustrating thing from Burleigh's point of view was that having been signed to play fly-half, that Lyon match was his first chance to play there after being drafted in as cover across the back division in previous matches. "I have played most of my rugby at 12, but if I can play 10 then I love playing there as well," he said. "It does not bother me too much as long as I am starting and getting my opportunities," he said.

It is not as though they can blame the French opposition for the problems, it was just a freaky Friday night when everything that could go wrong did. Burleigh was the first to go down with his knee trouble, then a couple of minutes later Hamish Watson broke his jaw, before Roddy Grand broke his cheekbone and Sam Beard suffered concussion at the same time. Six minutes, four major injuries.

Nor had the trouble finished. Ten 10 minutes later Grant Gilchrist, who had been named as Scotland captain only two days earlier, broke his arm, an injury that looks like keeping him out of the RBS Six Nations Championship as well, and after the match it transpired that Anton Bresler had played on with a damaged knee that was to keep him out of action for the next few weeks. No wonder the medical staff were looking shellshocked as six ambulances ferried players off for checks and treatment.

"I have never seen anything like it, it was pretty weird," said Burleigh. "I was the first to go after about 12 minutes and then in the next few minutes there were another four guys down, all serious injuries. I hope that does not happen again. It was all our guys injuring each other. We have looked back at the tapes and there was only one where it was their doing, it was not an overly physical game, just freaky."