Mathematically Gloucester still have a chance of qualifying but with Leinster to visit here on the final day of the pool stages and a trip to Agen pending in January they will probably end up bitterly regretting their home defeat to the French side six weeks ago. On Saturday Dean Ryan's side showed enough quality to demonstrate why they deserve to go through to the knockout stages but a lack of cohesion in defence and several squandered chances made it clear why that may be beyond them, this season at least.
Carlos Nieto and Patrice Collazo made mincemeat of the Edinburgh front row in every scrum to the delight of the Shed, Marco Bortolami was at his bullish best and among the backs James Simpson-Daniel showed searing pace, perfectly reading Phil Godman's pass for an early intervention try and setting up the bonus point score for Anthony Allen with 10 minutes remaining. In the final quarter, with the substitute fly-half Ryan Lamb under orders to put movement into the game, there was plenty for the putative England coach Brian Ashton to mull over from the stand.
Simpson-Daniel's mazy run to make Allen's try was one highlight but Lamb's ability to galvanise his backs and a closing try for Mark Foster - another high-speed effort with half a dozen pairs of hands involved in the treacherous conditions - also stood out. Ryan was rightly concerned, however, about the way his side had gone to sleep for half an hour, permitting Edinburgh to fight back from 14-0 down inside 20 minutes to level pegging at 22-22 shortly after half-time; not bad going for a side which their captain Chris Paterson admitted, were "completely bullied" in the tight.
The Shed, naturally, blamed the Welsh referee Tim Hayes but they should have looked closer to home at their own men's frailties: tackling seemed at times to be an optional extra for the Cherry and Whites, particularly when the substantial Scottish back row made inroads, and the Gloucester line-out also stuttered.
"Today we had nine try-scoring chances and took five," said Ryan. "For us to survive in this tournament when we go to Agen, Leinster or Murrayfield next weekend we might only get one chance and we'll have to take it."
Gradually Gloucester are regaining strength after an injury-hit autumn, with Andy Hazell likely to be fit for next week's return leg in Edinburgh and James Forrester expected to return within two or three weeks. But even so they face an uphill task if they are to qualify for the knockout stages for the first time since 2003. The back-to-back format will do Ryan's side no favours either, with Edinburgh fighting for survival as well.
"Double headers are incredibly difficult for the side that wins the first one, especially when you are away from home. It's like putting a stick in a hornet's nest and walking away. There is not a team in this tournament that can say they are going to go on a four-match [winning] run, it would be arrogant to do that," said Ryan. "We're out as soon as we make a mistake." For both these sides the knockout stages will start several months early.
Gloucester Morgan (Balshaw, 70min); Simpson-Daniel, Tindall, Allen, Foster; Walker (Lamb, 52), Richards (Lawson 57); Collazo (Califano, 64), Azam, Nieto, Bortolami (capt), Brown, Buxton, Boer, Narraway (Balding, 52).
Tries Tindall, Simpson-Daniel, Azam, Allen, Foster. Cons Walker 2. Pens Walker, Lamb. Drop-goal Walker.
Sin-bin Tindall, 36.
Edinburgh Southwell; Paterson (capt), Di Rollo, Hodge, Cairns; Blair, Godman; Jacobsen, Hall, Dickinson (Hewett, 70), Mustchin, Murray, Strokosch, Rennie, Callam (Taylor, 57).
Tries Tindall, Simpson-Daniel, Azam, Allen, Foster. Cons Walker 2. Pens Walker, Lamb. Drop goal Walker.
Sin-bin Taylor, 77.
