Castres power past young Edinburgh side

A youthful Edinburgh side trailed by just a single score at the break, but a powerful second-half surge from the hosts, coupled with disruptive injuries to the visitors, proved too much to overcome.

The capital team started the brighter of the two sides, demonstrating ambition and control in the opening exchanges.

Centre Piers O’Conor thought he had given Edinburgh the lead after hitting a short line off a five-metre scrum, only for the referee to rule the ball held up over the line.

Despite the early promise, it was Castres who drew first blood on 13 minutes, with Christian Ambadian finishing tidily in the corner after some neat handling from the home backs to make it 5-0.

Edinburgh, however, were well in the fight and showcased flashes of quality, none more impressive than two huge defensive moments from young flanker Freddy Douglas.

First winning a crucial turnover penalty, and then getting himself into the middle of a powerful Castres lineout drive to shut down a certain score.

Edinburgh kept knocking on the door, coming within inches of powering over, but a wide move was intercepted by a lightning-quick Castres defence as the teams went into the changing rooms with the score finely poised at 5-0.

The second half began in sharp contrast, with Castres hitting the accelerator immediately.

It took just seven minutes for them to breach the Edinburgh line again, with hooker Loris Zarantonello crashing over from a dominant lineout drive, extending the lead to 12-0.

The situation quickly deteriorated for the visitors, who were already missing Jack Brown from the first half due to a head knock. Ross McCann was forced off with a head injury, and the subsequent yellow card shown to Piers O’Conor for a head-on-head contact in the tackle left the defence stretched.

The structural difficulties were compounded when replacement James Lang had to depart with a shoulder injury, allowing Castres to take full advantage.

The French side ran in a series of quickfire scores, building a significant and unassailable 33-0 lead by the 65th minute.

Despite the scoreline, Edinburgh will take significant promise from the impressive performances of their young core.

Liam McConnell, Freddy Douglas, Ollie Blyth Lafferty, Jack Brown and Lewis Wells all demonstrated they have the talent and temperament to compete at this level.

Elsewhere, the return of Matt Currie and Conor Boyle for their first appearances of the season will be a major boost for the team moving forward.

Edinburgh continued to battle fiercely until the final whistle, even having a late Ewan Ashman score chalked off, but the match finished 33-0, a result that ultimately reflected Castres’ powerful second-half display against a young and injury-hit Edinburgh side.