Edinburgh 32 Castres 14EDINBURGH completed the double over the French visitors at Murrayfield and boosted their bid to avoid the wooden spoon in their pool.
Edinburgh were handed the first scoring chance when the Castres frontrow collapsed the scrum, but Phil Godman sent the penalty wide.
He made amends quickly after Simon Cross was bodychecked off the ball.
But in the 10th minute Castres created a superb try. A slick move stretched the defence and hooker Romain Terrain had the time and space to nip over in the corner. Romain Teulet added the tricky conversion.
Ben Cairns finally made the breakthrough for Edinburgh in the wake of great handling and offloading.
But they were set back on their heels again when Castres bagged another breakaway touchdown. Skipper Rodrigo Ortega rumbled through the middle, mowing down Nick De Luca, before sending Iosefa Tekori over.
Edinburgh continued to enjoy the bulk of possession and territory after the restart, but the tackling of the French side was hard and secure.
But they had no answer when Southwell found an extra gear to rip through a space and send Godman over for a top-notch try.
Even better was to come as substitute Chris Paterson slotted a penalty and immediately converted another fantastic touchdown by Ross Ford.
Paterson laid on the bonus point effort for Andy Kelly.
EDINBURGH:Southwell; A Turnbull, Cairns, De Luca, Webster; Godman, Laidlaw; Jacobsen, Ford, Kerr, C Hamilton, Gissing, Newlands, S Cross, Hogg. Replacements:Houston for De Luca (35), Paterson for Godman (50), M Blair for Laidlaw (50), Kelly for Ford (74), Traynor for Kerr (50), Reid for S. Cross (67). Not used:Lawrie.
CASTRES:Bouquie; Milford, C Sika, Sanchou, Bourret; Teulet, Senio; G Lensing, Terrain, Staibano, Capo, Gaston, Tomiki, Malonga, I Tekori. Replacements:Kefu for C Sika (64), Bonnefond for Bourret (25), Hoeft for G Lensing (55), Saayman for Staibano (49), Koulemine for Gaston (55), Giorgadze for Tomiki (67), C Masoe for Malonga (49). Sinbin:Terrain (39).
Referee:James Jones (WRFU).
