ANOTHER good weekend for Scotland’s professional teams in Europe saw both Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors take significant steps towards qualifying for the last eight of the Champions Cup. If they both make it, that would be an unprecedented achievement.

Edinburgh put a Newcastle Falcons outfit hamstrung by a dysfunctional scrum to the sword in truly awful weather conditions at Murrayfield

on Friday night. Then, on Saturday afternoon, Glasgow Warriors turned on the style to run in five tries during an emphatic 22-42 victory in Lyon.

With three games played and three to go in the pool stage of this Champions Cup campaign, Richard Cockerill’s side sit proudly at the summit of Pool Five, while Dave Rennie’s boys are in second place in Pool Three – four points adrift of Saracens but if they don’t make it as table-toppers, then they are brilliantly placed to make it into the knock-out phase as one of the best performing second-placed teams in the competition.

Warriors are back in action next Saturday lunchtime when they play their return match against Lyon at Scotstoun, while Edinburgh make the trip to Kingston Park on Sunday to face a Falcons side who desperately need to get something from the game to resuscitate their European ambitions.

Dave Rennie’s Warriors can be as good as Gregor Townsend’s – and probably better

The gruff New Zealander has said from day one that he wants his team to exhibit a brutality in the way that they dispose of the opposition, but creating that mind-set was easier said than done.

Last season, their first under their new head coach, the Warriors got off to a flying start but failed to show up when it mattered most. This season, by contrast, they look sharper and smarter, and able to grind out games when their trademark free-flowing style isn’t working.

Not that they needed to go that route on Saturday with their 22-42 Champions Cup win in Lyon showcasing their attacking prowess at its best. There is still a long way to go, and they remain prone to lapses of concentration in defence, but a bonus-point win in France is not to be sneezed at, and if they can repeat that against the same opponents at Scotstoun on Saturday they will have one foot in the last eight.

George Horne is Scotland’s best attacking scrum-half

Greig Laidlaw will continue to be preferred as the starting No.9 for the national team because of his greater maturity, game management and leadership qualities, but judged purely on his individual play, and his ability to change the tempo and flow of a match with an electrifying burst, Horne offers more of an all-round threat.

His energy, stamina and desire to get back off the ground and into the game again means that any team he is selected for will be able to play at a tempo which opposition defences will struggle to cope with.

His offloading and eye for a break were crucial to the Warriors’ win, and as he grows in composure he is likely to become a fixture in the national team for a long time to come once next year’s World Cup is out of the way.

Adam Ashe is beginning to fulfil his vast potential

The 25-year-old’s selection ahead of co-captain Ryan Wilson raised a few eyebrows, but Dave Rennie’s choice was fully vindicated by an excellent, two-try performance from the No.8. After a couple of injury-affected seasons in which it looked like Ashe might fail to turn promise into achievement, he is not merely back to his previous best, but beginning to hit new heights.

Let’s all hope that he can stay injury-free because he has all the fundamental attributes to be an absolutely crucial player for both club and country.

No scrum means no win

Fair play to loose-heads Sam Lockwood and Sami Mavinga for bravely agreeing to fill in at tight-head prop for Newcastle Falcons during their European Champions Cup clash against Edinburgh

on Friday night, after a glut of injuries

to Jon Welsh, Craig Mitchell, Paul Mullen,David Wilson, Trevor Davison andLogovi’I Mulipolaleft the Premiership side without a recognised No.3.

But their lack of time in the saddle in that most demanding and technical of positions was ruthlessly exposed, with Edinburgh scoring a penalty try off their utterly dominant scrum and generally establishing a stranglehold on possession which was enough to see them pick up a vital bonus-point win on a night when the weather conditions mitigated against attacking rugby.

Viliame Mata is not just a

fair-weather superstar

We all know what the Fijian brings to the party in terms of his ability to open up the game with a deadly combination of pace, offloading and general

physicality, but Friday night was a real test of whether he can cope with the unique conditions of a Scottish winter. The answer we got was an emphatic: yes, he can.

His 27 carries were more than any other player in the competition this weekend. He made 106 metres with the ball in hand and his out-of-this-world, back-handed, flip-pass which opened

up the field during the lead-up to Blair Kinghorn’s 71st-minute bonus-point securing try demonstrated that magic can still happen in the rain.

Less spectacularly but just as

importantly, he also made eight tackles, which put him in the top five among the Edinburgh squad.