Edinburgh scrum-half Greig Laidlaw praised the pack after their hard-fought Heineken Cup win over Stade Francais.
Scrum-half says Edinburgh pack starred in Stade win
Edinburgh scrum-half Greig Laidlaw praised the Scottish side's forward pack for providing the base for their hard-fought Heineken Cup win over Stade Francais.
Although Edinburgh may have dropped out of the Heineken Cup, they at least did so with a promising victory over the French powerhouse at Murrayfield.
The boot of full-back Chris Paterson proved crucial, his three penalties giving the hosts the edge over a Stade side who could only muster a converted try from second row Pascal Pape.
Laidlaw was handed the Man of the Match honours but he was full of praise for the forwards, who ensured stand-in Stade scrum-half Hugo Southwell - more used to plying his trade at full-back - had a tough evening.
"The forwards played well and targeted the breakdown," said Laidlaw. "They made it scrappy and made it very hard for Hugo.
Tough
"They really gave him a tough night at the office. Obviously, playing out of position, it wasn't easy for him. He stuck in, but our forwards made it very difficult for him."
Head coach Rob Moffat was understandably pleased with his side's performance, but highlighted there were still many areas for improvement.
"At the end of the day, sometimes all we need is three points - for Greig (Laidlaw) or Phil (Godman) to drop back, take a drop goal and come away with three points," Moffat said.
"We are the sort of team that always want to play the ball quickly and last week Ulster showed us how to play a slow-tempo game. We don't want to play that way but sometimes we have to."
Moffat, despite his obvious disappointment at his side's exit from the competition, remained upbeat when reflecting upon the campaign.
He said: "I think it's a decent return from Europe for us this year, winning our three home games. That's what we wanted to do.
"However, we wanted to win the pool and we wanted to go through. The bottom line is you want to qualify but we have to move on."
