Castres 21 – 34 Edinburgh

Heineken Champions Cup: Edinburgh secure a place in the round of 16 after victory over Castres in France; South Africa’s Stormers picked up bonus-point win at London Irish to remain on course for knockouts

Edinburgh are through to the last-16 of the Heineken Champions Cup after victory at Castres

Recap Sunday’s Heineken Champions Cup as Edinburgh booked a last-16 place after victory at Castres, while Stormers won at London Irish.

Castres 21-34 Edinburgh

Edinburgh did the double over French side Castres with an impressive 34-21 away win to book their place in the knockout stage.

The Scottish side crossed for four tries through hooker Dave Cherry, No 8 Bill Mata, centre Cameron Hutchison and replacement scrum-half Ben Vellacott for a bonus-point victory.

The boot of Blair Kinghorn landed four conversions and two penalties to seal a famous win as they impressively kept Castres scoreless in the second half on French soil.

Mike Blair’s Edinburgh side lost their Champions Cup opener to Saracens before beating Castres 31-20 at home and are now through.

London Irish 14-28 Stormers

London Irish’s feint hopes of progressing in the Heineken Champions Cup vanished due to a pair of red cards as Stormers ran out 28-14 winners at the Gtech Community Stadium.

Full-back Ben Loader and replacement prop Ciaran Parker were sent off either side of half-time, becoming the fourth and fifth players to receive their marching orders on a weekend of controversy in the competition.

Loader received his marching orders in the 18th minute for a dangerous tackle – Irish head coach Les Kiss said he was “flabbergasted” by the decision – and Parker had been on the pitch for just over a minute when his match was ended by an illegal clear-out.

In addition to the two reds, French referee Ludovic Cayre issued three yellow cards and awarded two penalty tries as the Exiles fell to a third defeat in their three group games.

Predictably enough given their numerical advantage, the impressive Stormers plundered a maximum five-point haul from their visit to London to keep alive their quest to reach the knockout phase.