European Challenge Cup: Edinburgh 36-0 Agen

Scotland winger Darcy Graham scored a first-half hat-trick of tries at Murrayfield

Edinburgh saw off Agen with a bonus-point win to seal their place in the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup.

Winger Darcy Graham was the star, grabbing a first-half hat-trick before adding a fourth try after the break.

Duhan van der Merwe scored the fifth to cap a comfortable day's work for the home side at Murrayfield.

Richard Cockerill's side qualify for the last eight as one of the best runners-up behind pool winners Bordeaux.

Graham provides spark for Edinburgh

From the moment Edinburgh opened this campaign with a comfortable away win against Agen with largely a second-string team, the French side have looked every inch the whipping boys of Pool 3.

Coming into this one they had lost five from five, conceding on average over 44 points per game.

The hosts should have been able to take care of this opposition in their sleep, but the danger in facing such limited opponents is complacency and for the first 25 or so minutes they appeared to be sleep-walking their way through.

All they had to show for their efforts in that period was a penalty from the boot of Jaco Van der Walt and it was not until just before the half-hour that the home side strung together a decent passage of play to send Graham over for the opening try.

Amid the largely lethargic first-half display, Graham provided the spark. The little winger conjured his and Edinburgh's second try from pretty much nothing, skipping away from a tackle and turning on the burners to run it in from 40m.

Luke Crosbie caught the eye for Edinburgh after his Scotland call-up

Luke Crosbie was showing why Gregor Townsend has called him into his Scotland squad for the Six Nations with some dynamic ball-carrying, but this was now the Darcy Graham Show.

The Hawick man showed devastating footwork to buy himself a yard on the outside channel and again had the gas to take him over in the corner and establish a 22-0 lead at the break.

With the job pretty much done for Edinburgh, the third quarter of the match was reminiscent of the first - balls down all over the place, penalties galore and a complete absence of intensity.

A fourth try, and the bonus point it brings, would take Edinburgh above Dragons in Pool 1 as the best of the runners-up. When the try duly arrived, there was no surprise as to the identity of the scorer.

Graham was roaming all over the park looking for work, taking short balls from nine, popping up in the midfield having come off his wing. His fourth try was no more than he deserved, running a good support line to collect the offload and run in untouched.

Van der Merwe continued his fine try-scoring form for Edinburgh when substitute Simon Hickey floated a long pass to take out the cover defence and set up the big wing to cruise over.

The same combination almost added further gloss to the scoreline when Van der Merwe failed to gather Hickey's cross-field chip, but it mattered little.

'Graham a great finisher' - reaction

Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill: "Darcy is a great finisher. He works hard and gets off his wing to go looking for work. His willingness to get stuck in for his team is second to none.

"If we all had that attitude, we'd be all right. Let's hope he can keep up that kind of form for Scotland."

Edinburgh: Hoyland, Graham, Bennett, Taylor, Van der Merwe, Van der Walt, Groom; Schoeman, Cherry, Nel, Toolis, Gilchrist, Crosbie, Watson, Haining.

Replacements: Willemse, Sutherland, Ceccarelli, McKenzie, Barclay, Pygros, Hickey, Dean.

Agen: Berdeu, Taulagi, Sadie, Decron, Masilevu, Lagarde, Abadie; Tetrashvili, Martinez, Desmaison, Phillips, Motoc, Briatte, Jegerlehner, Hayes.

Replacements: N'Guamo, Correa, Chabeaudie, Zafra, Maravat, Verdu, Vaka, Jane.