Richard Cockerill hailed his club’s players and supporters last night after Edinburgh completed an impressive Champions Cup weekend for Scottish teams by completing a double over Newcastle Falcons that extended their lead in pool five.
Ranked as 14-1 outsiders to reach the knockout stages before the tournament began they overcame the road sickness that has previously blighted them this season to claim a vital win that has effectively killed off the chances of the English Premiership side who had led the group before the first match in this double-header 10 days ago.
“I’ve just been told it was eight months since the last time we won away from home. It’s a great win. We had to win two games out of our last three and we’ve won one, so it’s put us in a great position to try and qualify,” said Cockerill.“It’s good to see travelling fans and we’ve got people in Edinburgh kit, fans chanting the team’s name, it’s new territory on and off the field for me. It’s a good night for Edinburgh Rugby. Edinburgh are going to go to Toulon top of our group and we’re going to try and qualify and if we don’t we can bring Montpellier to Murrayfield and try and qualify. We’ve earned the right to be here and we’re giving it a bash and seeing how far we can go.”
At the end of a weekend that had also seen Glasgow Warriors complete a home and away double against French side Lyon to enhance their chances of reaching the quarter-finals, the former England hooker said he was revelling in the environment north of the border, ahead of the festive derbies.
“I’m enjoying the challenge,” he said. “It’s nice to get a shot in the arm by winning some games. We’ve got a good set of players with a lot of internationals in the team. Scotland are playing exceptionally well as a national team, so why shouldn’t we perform on the club stage?
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