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Edinburgh edge Castres as Exeter gore Bulls in Champions Cup
Edinburgh held on to edge tenacious but error-prone Castres 31-20 in the Champions Cup on Saturday.
Exeter gained their second win by crushing the visiting Bulls 44-14.
Edinburgh, who gained an unexpected and hard-fought bonus point losing away to Saracens by just four points in the opening round, again fought hard and this time were rewarded with a victory.
The defeat leaves Castres without a point after two matches.
"You have to pitch up physically against the French sides, and I thought we did that," Edinburgh flanker Luke Crosbie told broadcasters BT.
Every time the hosts threatened to pull away, Castres struck back.
Edinburgh took the lead when No. 8 Viliame Mata powered over from a tap penalty under the posts.
Pierre Colonna replied with a rampaging try. The Castres hooker threw in to a lineout and when the ball rebounded to him, turned and scattered Edinburgh backs as he charged over the line.
Julien Blanc finished off a passing move to give Castres the lead but fullback Julien Dumora missed both conversions.
Edinburgh went in at half time a point ahead after a 35th minute penalty try.
Replacement fly-half Charlie Savala increased the lead to eight, racing through a gap in the Castres defence seven minutes into the second half.
Castres then gave Edinburgh a gift. Winger Martin Laveau stumbled behind his own line as he stooped to touch the ball dead and scrum half Ben Vellacott pounced, gleefully touching down for an Edinburgh try.
Adrien Seguret responded withing a minute for Castres but Emiliano Boffelli kicked a late penalty to stretch Edinburgh's final lead to 11
In Exeter, the home team rebounded form an early Bulls try with 39 unanswered points.
Winger Stravino Jacobs ran in untouched from 20 metres to open the scoring in the seventh minute.
Exeter responded with forward power.
Flanker Dave Ewers scored from close range following a tap penalty. Hooker Luke Cowan Dickie scored the next two tries, both after Exeter set up mauls following lineouts.
Centre Henry Slade touched down before half time.
After the break, Cowan-Dickie, who is moving to France to join Montpellier next season, completed a hat-trick, taking a tap penalty and charging over.
Centre Chris Smith gave the Bulls a glimmer of hope but, centre Solomone Kata replied for Exeter.
Exeter have collected a maximum 10 points from two matches.
T. Jones--BTZ
