Richard Cockerill: Edinburgh 'coming of age' after Champions Cup win v Toulon
- Published
Captain Stuart McInally was one of many Edinburgh players who played "outstandingly well"
Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill believes their Champions Cup bonus-point win over Toulon was a "coming of age" moment in his side's development.
After a narrow defeat in Montpellier a week ago, they dominated the three-time champions at Murrayfield.
Cockerill insists it is "too early" to assess their qualification prospects, but was delighted by the performance.
"We spoke all week about this team coming of age and hopefully it is the start of that," he told BBC Scotland.
"I have got a lot of respect for Toulon and we have still got to go and play them away, so we are not going to get too excited.
"But for Edinburgh as a club, what we are trying to build and trying to do, it is a pretty good statement to make.
"Across the board the team played well and the international players stood up and played outstandingly well.
"It is a step on the way. It will be hard for us to qualify from this group but we are going to keep working hard and see where we get to."
Mata 'world-class' and others 'not far away'
Fijian number eight Viliame 'Bill' Mata was named man of the match for an outstanding performance featuring 20 carries, four deft offloads and some thumping tackles.
"He is a really good player but what makes him look really good is the people around him," Cockerill said.
"There are a lot of guys cleaning rucks and making tackles that 'Vili' doesn't make to allow him to carry the ball. We use him really well. [Assistant coach] Duncan Hodge does a good job in attack, getting Bill on the ball as often as possible. We have got a good balance in that back row with Hamish [Watson] and Magnus [Bradbury] and Luke Crosbie and Jamie Ritchie coming on.
"For me he is a world-class player but there are lots of guys in the group who are developing really well and will be world-class, and they are not far away from that now."
Viliame Mata was in barnstorming form for Edinburgh
Cockerill, who coached at Toulon for half a season in 2017, remains wary of the return fixture in the fifth round of group matches in January. "They will 100% still be a threat," he said. "Mayol is not a place [for them] to lose. They will want to redress that balance because they are a proud club."
But he admits Edinburgh's performances over the opening two rounds - with a home-and-away double-header against Newcastle in December to come - should help swell belief.
"Last week we probably didn't quite have that [against Montpellier] until towards the end," he added. "But today we played with great directness from the start, were really decisive, played the better rugby and were the better team.
"We should be proud of that but we have got to build on it now. It is alright having these one-offs but we have proved in the last two weeks we can compete with these big European teams.
"We now have to have expectations as a nation of Scottish players that we are good enough to compete at this level."
Champions Cup Pool Five | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Played | Won | Points | |
1. Edinburgh | 2 | 1 | 6 |
2. Montpellier | 1 | 1 | 4 |
3. Newcastle | 1 | 1 | 4 |
4. Toulon | 2 | 0 | 1 |