SCOTTISH appearances in the knock-out stages of European rugby have been so rare that it might be expected that any opportunity to get there would command full attention. However, there was evidence of Edinburgh getting ahead of themselves on Saturday night during their 50-20 Pool 4 win over London Irish.

This coming Friday brings Krasny Yar to Myreside – weather permitting – and while the dangers of disregarding the Russians may already have been exposed in this season’s Challenge Cup, after rattling in 10 tries in their previous meeting in Moscow, it is understandable if Edinburgh believe the match to be a formality.

With 23 tries scored, more than twice as many as the other perceived contenders in their pool and far and away the most registered by any team in either European tournament this season, Edinburgh are all but certain to secure the bonus-try win next weekend that will take them to the magic mark of 20. No team has so far failed to reach the Challenge Cup quarter-finals on achieving it and, if things go to plan, Richard Cockerill’s side will have done it with two matches to spare.

If they are in danger of taking things for granted then after a second destruction of an English Premiership side – albeit, admittedly, that league’s worst – why not?

Nor were Edinburgh at their best against Irish on a bitterly cold night at Murrayfield, the match having been switched from frozen Myreside. They had to revert to generating their own atmosphere in the echoing surrounds of the national stadium but gradually warmed to their task as they ran in eight tries in reaching a half-century against hapless opposition. Such is the gulf in importance between the two European competitions, however, it was still hard to place a value on that 50-20 victory as compared with Glasgow Warriors’ 29-22 defeat at the hands of Montpellier in the Champions Cup the previous evening.

Edinburgh’s players clearly know, then, that as much as they would like to revisit the Challenge Cup final and go one better than when they were squeezed out by Gloucester three seasons ago, the forthcoming derby matches over the festive period will be a far greater indicator of the progress they have made under new head coach Cockerill than any number of tries they rattle in next weekend. “We are under no illusions. It is still pretty early on in the season and we are building towards Glasgow and we want to beat them,” said Phil Burleigh, Saturday’s righteous recipient of the man-of-the-match award who, at the ripe old age of 31, recently won his first Scotland cap in a more memorable eight-try romp in the national stadium against Australia.

“We are going to have a good couple of games in the next couple of weeks. That will be the true test for us to see where we are at for the season because they are unbeaten in [the Guinness Pro14] so that is our focus. We have a pretty big couple of games against them ahead.”

A product of the Kiwi rugby environment, Burleigh knows better than most what is required to compete with the best, and he believes that Cockerill, their head coach, is putting the right things in place to give Edinburgh that opportunity.

“Cockers has done a great job, toughening us up,” he said. “He is building a very good team culture. Maybe we took that a bit for granted. It is really good to see this team starting to grow. I always knew it was there. It was just getting it out of us. We are building on wins game by game and it is nice to see.”

Burleigh was not wholly presumptuous about Friday’s outcome, but it is clear there is an expectation of getting the job done. “It is exciting to hopefully make the quarter-final,” he said. “Any quarter-final, regardless what it is, is pretty special. It is a really good opportunity for the boys to seal it next week and we hope we do.”

NATURALLY, Cockerill must guard against complacency in the coming days, but there was evidence that he, too, reckons he can put any combination from within his squad on to the pitch next weekend and expect a minimum of the required victory with a bonus point.

“I’ll look after some of the international guys,” he said. “They’ve had a heavy workload. It was important that they played [on Saturday], so I’ll look after some of those next week, but we don’t want to end up on our arses next week by getting too ahead of ourselves.”

Cockerill could not resist a touch of mind games in pointing out the very difficult challenge that Dave Rennie, his opposite number at the other end of the M8, has to deal with over the next few days. Glasgow’s trip to Montpellier could hardly be any tougher since they know that for all the hubris generated by their 10-match winning streak in the Pro14, they have yet again proven incapable of getting the better of the battle-hardened elite in Europe and will only make things harder for themselves in future if they are now seen to capitulate.

Rennie has hinted at ringing the changes, too. However, as well as Glasgow continue to perform in the more co-operative domestic environment that encourages risk, partly because opponents are not good enough to properly punish mistakes, a fourth defeat for them while a second string Edinburgh are shooting the lights out, could well affect the derby dynamics and Cockerill knows it.

“It’s a tough gig for Glasgow,” he said. “They’ve obviously had a lot of guys playing Test matches and two big games against Montpellier, and they’ll come here against a very motivated Edinburgh team on December 23.

“We have the luxury of looking after our squad and I’ll do that next week, but it will be a strong side, which I expect to put in a good performance.

“We’re actually creating some competition for places, which is good and nobody is safe in their spot, which is great.”

As to the question of how his team are doing under his charge, Cockerill knows how wrong it would be to get over-excited by their European results and that the real challenge awaits once Krasny Yar have been dealt with.

“Eight tries is good, but it’s just a start, we don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves,” he insisted. “We’ll hopefully have a good win next week and then we can concentrate on Glasgow, which will be a real test to see where we’re at.”