KRASNY Yar Krasnoyarsk’s victory over Challenge Cup holders Stade Francais was the shock of the opening weekend of European competition, but it is a result that has ensured that there is no danger of any complacency when Edinburgh follow the French club to Russia this weekend.

Admittedly the attitude of French clubs to playing in Europe has always been erratic and there is a real sense that the top clubs are treating the Challenge Cup in a similar way to the approach of English football’s Premier League giants to their League Cup, taking the chance to look at fringe players while withholding their leading players at this stage at least as they prioritise their domestic leagues. Several international players have not even been registered for the pool stages.

Even so, Krasny Yar’s victory was the most surprising European debut since Italy introduced themselves to the Six Nations Championship by beating Scotland in their opening match in 2000 and it is a result that has earned them attention, as Edinburgh prop Darryl Marfo acknowledged this week.

“I was quite surprised because to be totally honesty with you I’d say it’s not a team I massively follow their results. I can’t say I’m a big fan of the Russian rugby league,” he said, grinning broadly at the notion. “With them in our pool I did have a look at the result and you say ‘well, they’ve done the job against Stade Francais’.

“Whether that’s in France or in Russia to beat a team of their calibre is an excellent result for them. Then when you see what they produced on the footage, it makes you sit up a bit more.”

While no team would ever admit to complacency ahead of a match Edinburgh have been known to under-estimate opponents, as evidenced already this season when they let Treviso claim a rare away win .

“It has given us a bit more of a head’s up. For us at Edinburgh we don’t take anyone lightly,” Marfo insisted, however. “We really do approach every single game looking to out our stamp of authority on it. You do have to be aware of the opposition but we focus largely on what we put out on the pitch.

“We got caught on the hop by Treviso didn’t we? After that we’re not going to take anyone lightly.”

He also reported that the mood at Edinburgh is upbeat in spite of the latest off-field shenanigans that sees club captain Magnus Bradbury excluded from the camp as the circumstances surrounding a head knock suffered on a night out are investigated. For the rest of the squad there is no reason why that should not be so after they made the ideal start to their European campaign at London Irish.

There is also a natural sense of excitement at the prospect of heading to relatively uncharted terrain, for all that they are not undertaking quite the trip Stade faced when they headed to Siberia last week, this match instead taking place in Moscow.

“Everyone in the squad is chuffed to be involved with a match of this kind,” said Marfo. “It’s unusual for rugby players from this part of Europe to go over and play a match in Russia.

“There is a lot of positivity around the club this week from last weekend’s result. Everyone is champing at the bit to get cracking into another game.”