Four tries from their electric wing Darcy Graham allowed Edinburgh to cruise into a European Challenge Cup quarter-final over an outmatched Agen at Murrayfield.
The diminutive Scotland winger had a hat-trick inside 12 minutes in the first half and bagged a fourth after the break, his speed and finishing proving overwhelming for an otherwise pretty stuffy defence from the Top 14 basement side.
Duhan van der Merwe celebrated his new contract with his 29th try for the club, and for Gregor Townsend there was some relief as Graham, Hamish Watson and other Scotland candidates came through the game without any ill-effects.
It wasn’t the full-rounded performance Richard Cockerill wanted, but a zero on the scoreboard and the point of difference Graham made will satisfy them as they head into to the last eight in Europe for the fourth year in succession, although it will be an away quarter-final this year.
Edinburgh’s fans might have been getting a bit nervy approaching the half-hour with only a straightfoward Jaco van der Walt penalty on the Murrayfield scoreboards, and Agen’s defence looking competitive and aggressive.
But after Romain Lagarde missed an easy penalty to level the scores, and once Hamish Watson settled things with a couple of turnover penalties, the quicksilver Graham took control.
His first was the easiest, a simple run-in from five metres, although he did well to get on the shoulder of George Taylor after the physical young centre broke tackles from a called move off a lineout.
The second was the best, as Edinburgh were labouring sideways across the pitch until Graham came on to the ball, shrugged off a tackler, and left three more grasping at air on a thrilling run from 40 metres to score.
Right on half-time, Dave Cherry and Luke Crosbie’s thundering runs softened up the tiring Agen defence, and Edinburgh opted to kick to the corner with the clock in the red.
Their maul was illegally hauled down, but with the advantage van der Walt slung a long miss pass to Graham and the wing danced around his man to complete his 12-minute hat-trick.
Agen’s defence regrouped well after half-time and again Edinburgh looked sometimes a little laboured looking for a way through for the bonus point try.
It took nearly half an hour of huff and puff and getting in their own way before a set move brought Graham infield to take a pass, jink past the first defender and once in open space going into the 22, there was simply no catching him as he motored away for his fourth try.
Duhan van der Merwe was held up over the line after a charging run from a lineout move, but his try was only delayed for a few seconds as Simon Hickey’s long miss pass gave him an easy run-in from the resultant five metre scrum.
Hickey’s second conversion, to add to two from van der Walt, completed the scoring.
Att: 5500
Edinburgh: D Hoyland; D Graham, M Bennett, G Taylor, D van der Merwe; J van der Walt, N Groom; P Schoeman, D Cherry, WP Nel; B Toolis, G Gilchrist; L Crosbie, H Watson, N Haining.
Replacements: M Willemse for Cherry 63, R Sutherland for Schoeman 63, P Ceccarelli for Nel 63, F McKenzie for Toolis 61, J Barclay for Watson 68, H Pyrgos for Groom 61, S Hickey for van der Walt 61, C Dean for Bennett 59.
Agen: L Berdeu; JJ Taulagi, J Sadie, N Decron, B Masilevu; R Lagarde, P Abadie; G Tetrashvili, C Martinez, W Desmaison; P Phillips, A Motoc; R Briatte, J Jergerlehner, D Hayes.
Replacements: P N’Gauamo for Martinez 55, F Correa for Tetrashvili 55, C Chabeaudie for Desmaison 55, G Maravat for Briatte 61, H Verdu for Abadie 61, S Vaka for Decron 55, J Jane for Lagarde 55.
Ref: C Maxwell-Keys (RFU)
