Mike Blair: Edinburgh have ‘traits’ to win at Castres

The Scottish region head into the contest fifth in Pool A, having beaten Castres 31-20 at home in Round 2 after running Saracens close in a 30-26 loss at StoneX Stadium in Round 1.

“I honestly believe we are showing traits that are important to enable us to win these games – that character,” he said.

“Going to Castres is one of the toughest places to go in Europe, with the crowd, the size of their pack and the record they have.

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“But we have shown in the last five games we can play. We just need to put it together. That is the key.”

Edinburgh come into the game via a 24-17 win over Zebre Parma in the United Rugby Championship and Blair believes the character his side showed in that match to overturn a seven-point deficit with less than a quarter of an hour to play is something they can take confidence from.

“I actually felt confident that we would get back into the game,” he said. ”I genuinely have so much belief in this group of players. We just have to keep learning.

“We repeated some of the mistakes of the past few weeks, but I asked the players to show character and I believe they showed it in the way they came back to get the bonus-point win. It’s something we can really build on.”