Having begun to make a habit of stalling the momentum of pace-setting teams, Edinburgh are hoping to continue in that vein as they head into this season’s festive derbies.
Nine days after they knocked Newcastle Falcons off the top of Champions Cup pool three, Sunday’s victory in the return meeting with the English Premiership side, extended the lead they have now established in that table and they now turn their attention to another pair of back-to-back meetings with their neighbours who are leading the way in Pro14 Conference A.
Glasgow Warriors were even more dominant in the domestic competition this time last year when they went into the first of the derbies having won all 10 of their Pro14 matches, only for that run to come to a grinding halt when they were beaten by an Edinburgh side that spent most of the match with only 14 men on the pitch.
Sunday’s win was Edinburgh’s first competitive triumph away from home this season, but they have been unbeatable on their home patch, winning all four Pro14 matches as well as claiming bonus point wins in both their Champions Cup ties and completing the double over Newcastle has given them a timely boost ahead of Glasgow’s visit on Saturday.
"It was good to get the win, get the confidence and momentum going,” said their international second row Ben Toolis.
“They've had a few good results. Beating Lyon back to back, playing well in tough conditions on Saturday. It was important for us to get the win and get the confidence up again. It was our first win away from home for a while.
“We've been back together as a team for the first time in a while the past couple of weeks, it's been good to get some familiar bodies back and a bit of cohesion together. We focus on Glasgow now and it's going to be a tough couple of weeks."
Toolis felt Edinburgh could take considerable satisfaction from the victory which extended their advantage over their rivals to four points, with Montpellier replacing Newcastle in second place.
“The boys stuck in very well,” he said.
“They (Newcastle) have started well in the campaign, so we knew it was a tough ask to come here and win. First half it was 8-6 to them and to keep them scoreless in the second half was good work by the boys and to get a couple of tries. We're happy."
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