After watching his Edinburgh side complete their astonishing Champions Cup pool campaign with a victory which earned them a home quarter-final Richard Cockerill laughed off any suggestion that they can win the trophy, but his pride in the way they have forced European rugby to take notice of them was evident.

Up against one of the wealthiest teams on the continent, coached by former Scotland boss Vern Cotter, his men dominated Montpellier for most of the 80 minutes at Murrayfield last night to fully earn their place in the last eight.

“Europe is bloody tough,” he said.

“To qualify for a home quarter final is an achievement for any team and a real statement for us and a step in the right direction. Whoever comes here, Munster or Exeter probably we are going to try and win and give it a bash. Why can’t we? There’s not a chance we can win it, no , but i don’t think anybody would say they can win the tournament because it is such a hard tournament to win. There is so much luck involved. We will do everything we can to win every game. We win the next three games in this competition we are the Champions of Europe and I am retiring.”

They were on top from the off, making a major statement early on with two huge scrummages driving the hefty visiting pack backwards, while Bill Mata did what he does best with a couple of impressive early carries and their superiority was rewarded with a brace of penalty strikes from Jaco van der Walt.

Increasing confidence was evident from the re-start after the second of them, Graham flicking the ball cleverly as he was bundled into touch then, extraordinarily WP Nel delivering a through the legs pass 15 metres from his own line.

Midway through the half Montpellier threatened for the first time, Johan Goosen delivering a neat little grubber kick for Henry Immelman to run onto and he took play into the 22 but knocked the ball on as he attempted to off-load out of tackle The visitors were then awarded a kickable penalty after high tackle by Mata on Louis Picamoles, opted to go to touch instead, set up the drive, initially made good ground, but then knocked the ball on again.

On the half hour van der Walt was given a chance to give his side a two score lead with a penalty on the 10 metre line, only to push it wide, but when Nnel was tackled high by Jacques du Plessis soon after, he made amends. In between times former Scotland coach Vern Cotter’s dissatisfaction with the way his side was scrummaging was demonstrated when tighthead prop Jannie du Plessis was removed from the fray.

It had been a fine half of rugby for Edinburgh, but it was spoiled in its dying moments when, they conceded a rare penalty inside their 22. It was taken quickly by Ruan Pienaar, and with Edinburgh slightly slow to react the defence was fractured sufficiently to let Montpellier get in close enough for Jacques du Plessis to plunged over for the try that got them back in the game, Pienaar reducing the gap to two points with a conversion to end the half.

Montpellier then took the lead for the first time with a Pienaar penalty after Jamie Ritchie was penalised for going in at the side at a maul that was being driven over the Edinburgh 22.

With the match and qualification for the quarter-finals on the line, a well organised lineout drive inside the 22 seeming to expose tiredness among the visiting pack and earning a penalty which allowed van der Walt to nudge his side back in front with 55 minutes.

The same method brought even greater rewards five minutes later as Edinburgh earned another chance to set up a lineout drive outside the 22 and powered all the way to the five metre line.

With Montpellier repeatedly infringing, referee JP Doyle held his nerve and Edinburgh their patience as they recycled the ball repeatedly at close range before sucking in sufficient men to allow Graham a relatively easy finish when Pyrgos popped the ball out to him.

It was well and importantly converted from the right touchline by van der Walt, re-establishing a two score lead.

With eight minutes remaining Edinburgh’s entire front-row was taken from the fray after putting in a magnificent shift and after replacing Nel, fellow Scotland prop Simon Berghan immediately made his presence felt by winning a turnover penalty that allowed them to clear their lines after having been a lengthy spell of pressure and they were able to repel all further Montpellier efforts to build pressure.