NO SHAME IN DEFEAT FOR EDINBURGH AND HOYLAND

EDINBURGH’S perfect record in the European Challenge Cup came to an end on Saturday night, although there were enough positives to keep the feelgood factor intact. Richard Cockerill’s men had already secured a home quarter-final date with Cardiff in March and fell just short of making it six wins out of six in Pool 4. They were 12-0 down inside seven minutes as their French hosts bagged tries through Paul Alo-Emile and Jonathan Danty, the first converted by Shane Geraghty. That remained the score at the interval, but it was a different Edinburgh that emerged for the second period. Damien Hoyland hauled the visitors back into the game with an unconverted score, before Dougie Fife also touched down. However, veteran flanker Sergio Parisse came off the bench to clinch the victory with a third try for Stade. ‘It was a different thing to gain from this game for us,’ said Hoyland. ‘It was more about our stature and how we want to be seen. ‘We didn’t want to go out saying this game didn’t matter — we wanted to come out to play one of the big dogs in Europe. ‘If we could beat them, regardless of whether we were qualified or not, I think that shows we are a gutsy team. We were just short of that, but credit to Stade — they were physical and had a great offloading game. They deserved to win, but we put in a gutsy performance.’ The contribution of young prop Murray McCallum will have been pleasing not only for Cockerill, but also for Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend. ‘I thought we recovered after half-time,’ said Cockerill. ‘We showed some character and spirit. We didn’t deserve to win, but I was pleased that the players found a way to stay in the game.’