Gloucester and Edinburgh claimed victories in Friday’s Challenge Cup action, defeating Castres and Scarlets, respectively.
The Cherry and Whites ran in four tries en-route to a comprehensive 35-5 win over Castres while Edinburgh dotted down five times in their 31-19 victory over the Scarlets.
Friday’s action will have pleased Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend, who saw plenty of his stars in action and on form, particularly after .
George Skivington’s have struggled in the Premiership but have been in fine form in the and they continued in that fashion with a comprehensive victory over Castres at Kingsholm.
Gloucester had already qualified for the round of 16 but ran in four tries to secure a bonus-point win with Scotland fly-half Adam Hastings starring.
Seb Atkinson went over for an eighth-minute score converted by Hastings, who added a penalty as the hosts went into the break 10-5 up, Josaia Raisuqe going over for the French outfit.
But it was one-way traffic after the interval, with tries from Freddie Clarke, Hastings and Albert Tuisue ensuring a comfortable night’s work for Gloucester.
Hastings finished with 15 points from a try, two conversions and two penalties, while Santiago Carreras added a late conversion and penalty.
Meanwhile, Edinburgh ran in five tries as they moved to the brink of qualification from the pool, defeating Scarlets at Parc y Scarlets.
Ben Vellacott and WP Nel both went over in the first six minutes as the Scots raced into a 14-0 lead.
Joe Roberts crossed to get Scarlets back into it, but further Edinburgh scores from Duhan van der Merwe and Hamish Watson had the bonus point secured by half-time.
Pierre Schoeman put the game to bed three minutes after the restart, and – after Edinburgh lock Grant Gilchrist was shown a red card in the 72nd minute – Ryan Conbeer and a penalty try gave some respectability to the score for the home side, who have lost all four games to exit the competition.
Gloucester: 15 Santiago Carreras, 14 Jonny May, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Ollie Thorley, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 Caolan Englefield, 8 Zach Mercer, 7 Ruan Ackermann (c), 6 Jack Clement, 5 Matias Alemanno, 4 Freddie Clarke, 3 Fraser Balmain, 2 George McGuigan, 1 Jamal Ford-Robinson
Replacements: 16 Seb Blake, 17 Harry Elrington, 18 Ciaran Knight, 19 Albert Tuisue, 20 Lewis Ludlow, 21 Stephen Varney, 22 Max Llewellyn, 23 Josh Hathaway
Castres: 15 Geoffrey Palis, 14 Martin Laveau, 13 Adrien Seguret, 12 Andrea Cocagi, 11 Nathanael Hulleu, 10 Pierre Popelin, 9 Santiago Arata, 8 Abraham Papalii, 7 Nick Champion de Crespigny, 6 Mathieu Babillot (c), 5 Tom Staniforth, 4 Gauthier Maravat, 3 Aurelien Azar, 2 Gaetan Barlot, 1 Wayan de Benedittis
Replacements: 16 Pierre Colonna, 17 Antoine Tichit, 18 Esteban Talalua, 19 Florent Vanverberghe, 20 Yann Peysson, 21 Jeremy Fernandez, 22 Vilimoni Botitu, 23 Josaia Raisuqe
Referee: Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Robbie Jenkinson (Ireland), Tomás O’Sullivan (Ireland)
TMO: Leo Colgan (Ireland)
Scarlets: 15 Ioan Nicholas, 14 Steff Evans, 13 Joe Roberts, 12 Jonathan Davies, 11 Ryan Conbeer, 10 Ioan Lloyd, 9 Kieran Hardy, 8 Vaea Fifita, 7 Dan Davis, 6 Ben Williams, 5 Jac Price, 4 Alex Craig, 3 Harri O’Connor, 2 Ryan Elias (c), 1 Steff Thomas
Replacements: 16 Eduan Swart, 17 Kemsley Mathias, 18 Sam Wainwright, 19 Morgan Jones, 20 Shaun Evans, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Charlie Titcombe, 23 Tomi Lewis
Edinburgh: 15 Emiliano Boffelli, 14 Chris Dean, 13 Matt Currie, 12 James Lang, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Ben Healy, 9 Ben Vellacott (cc), 8 Viliame Mata, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Luke Crosbie, 5 Grant Gilchrist (cc), 4 Sam Skinner, 3 WP Nel, 2 Dave Cherry, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Angus Williams, 19 Glen Young, 20 Jamie Ritchie, 21 Tom Dodd, 22 Ali Price, 23 Cammy Scott
Referee: Sara Cox (England)
Assistant Referees: Ludovic Cayre (England), tbc
TMO: Dean Richards (England)
