'Win with a bonus-point, qualify, and see where that takes us' - Edinburgh's Richard Cockerill gives thoughts ahead of Agen tie

With a three-week break looming, Edinburgh coach Richard Cockerill is determined to finish what is effectively the first half of the season on a perfect note.

A resounding win over Challenge Cup Pool 3 whipping boys Agen at BT Murrayfield on Saturday afternoon would clinch a third successive European last-eight spot in what has been an impressive resurgence of the Capital pro-team under the stewardship of the former England hooker and Leicester coach.

With his side sitting pretty at the top of Guinness Pro14 Conference B, it would be the perfect way to head into the lull as the build-up and start of the Six Nations takes centre stage.

“Win with a bonus-point, qualify, and see where that takes us,” is Cockerill’s typically frank assessment of the job in hand.

“I think a win will get us through and we’ll just see. We are going to be away from home but that’s fine. Wherever that takes us, we’ll give it our best shot.”

The defeat at French Top 14 leaders and now pool winners Bordeaux-Begles last Saturday ended any hopes of a fourth straight home European quarter-final at the national stadium, but with the previous three all being lost, Cockerill is relishing the prospect of hitting the road this year, with the tantalising prospect of a return to his old Leicester stomping ground a live possibility.

“Bristol and Toulon are going well, we could end up in Castres or Leicester, so wherever we go in the quarter-final it is going to be tough – but you would prefer to avoid a Toulon or a Bordeaux [again],” said Cockerill. “But if we have to go to those places we will go with our best team and see where we get to.”

Agen sit bottom of the Top 14 and have lost all five in Europe, including a 31-10 away win by Edinburgh last year, without even a single losing bonus point to their name.

Any sane bookie would close the book on anything other than a convincing home win on Saturday, but Cockerill is wary of complacency.

“It’s always a danger, isn’t it?” he warned. “I thought we were pretty poor against Southern Kings [a 61-13 win earlier this month against a Pro14 Conference B bottom side who ended up down to 12 men]. In the end it was a great win with a lot of points but I thought we played pretty poorly.

“We’re starting to mature as a team, and I think we are mature enough to be able to say: ‘This is a game we should win, it is a game we should be getting four tries in, and we are going to go out there and do it.’

“It is a different sort of challenge for us, and in some ways a harder challenge than people thinking we are going to lose and being surprises. Well, we should win, I expect us to win, and I expect us to put a proper performance out on the field and get the job done.”