Edinburgh leave it late

Simon Webster scored the winning try four minutes from time as Edinburgh edged out Castres to claim a 24-22 win at an empty Murrayfield.

The Heineken Cup contest was played on Monday after being postponed 24 hours due to the big freeze, with conditions in the Scottish capital meaning there were no fans in attendance.

The hosts led 14-10 at half-time as Tim Visser scored a first-half try before creating a second for Lee Jones.

But the French side fought back - taking advantage of Greig Laidlaw's sin-binning - by earning a penalty try before scoring again through Sebastien Tillous-Borde, leaving Edinburgh behind by five points in the closing stages.

Decisive Webster

But for the second consecutive week Webster came off the bench to score a try, and this time it proved decisive as he capitalised on a bad Castres mistake to touch down, with David Blair kicking the conversion to secure the win.

Edinburgh had previously suffered three defeats from their opening three games in Pool One, including a 21-16 loss to Castres in France last weekend.

And even with the win on Monday, the Scottish outfit face a difficult task if they are to qualify for the Amlin Challenge Cup from the pool.

Castres fly-half Pierre Bernard opened the scoring early on as he kicked a 45-metre penalty before Edinburgh's Chris Paterson missed from a similar distance.

But the hosts soon took the lead as Visser picked the ball up inside the 10-metre line before stepping through the defence and racing down the touchline for a solo score.

Castres provided their own response in the 13th minute as Rodrigo Capo Ortega scored from the bottom of a rolling maul after the pack had powered their way across the try-line.

Paterson then missed a second attempt at goal but Visser was on hand to create another try on 22 minutes.

The left winger surged down his opposite flank and seemed destined for his second try, but a tap tackle denied him and he instead popped the ball up for Jones to score.

Lead

Paterson added the extras from the touchline, giving the home side a four-point lead at the half-time interval.

Paterson did not rejoin the action at the restart due to a shoulder injury and Blair took on the kicking duties in his absence, extending the advantage to 17-10 after 47 minutes.

But the momentum swung when scrum-half Laidlaw was sin-binned for failing to retreat at a free-kick and Castres opted for the scrum from the resulting penalty.

Edinburgh could not withstand the pressure and, after three attempts to reset, referee Wayne Barnes awarded a penalty try, with Seremaia Bai adding the simple conversion to level the scores.

The pressure kept coming and Tillous-Borde put Castres ahead after sniping round the blindside to cross the try-line, though the missed conversion would prove costly.

With only four minutes left, Webster collected a Blair kick through which should have been dealt with by the Castres defence and crossed for a crucial try, Blair's conversion proving to be the winning points.