We traveled last weekend to the South of France full of hopes. We were escaping the cold weather, visiting a renown rugby town, a venue strapped with history with some of the best atmosphere in Europe. 

The latest FloRugby column by Edinburgh star Juan Pablo Socino.

We were to tackle a team full of international stars with the opportunity of creating history with a win at Stade Mayol.

Watch Round 6 of the Heineken Champions Cup (in Middle East and North Africa) LIVE this weekend

Europe seems small, but it wasn’t a quick trip; we had to fly from Edinburgh to Marseille and then jump on a bus for another hour to Toulon.

We made it in time to visit the ground, check the surroundings and avoid any surprises on match day.

Saturday morning was warm and sunny, the sun shining on the French Riviera, which was very much enjoyed by the many Edinburgh fans who made the trip, drinking their coffees amongst the local fans. The spirit was palpable.

We knew the size of the challenge: Toulon has a very strong pack and incredible backs.

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We knew that the opening 20 minutes would probably hold the key to the game; they would come out firing, well supported by their crowd, trying to bring the game to us, using their strength. They opened the scores too quickly for what we had planned during the week.

That first try was a wake-up call; from there on we managed to control the ball, impose our game plan, move their pack around, which offered spaces to attack. We scored after a great move when Jamie Ritchie off-loaded for Darcy Graham to score in the corner.

Toulon were ahead at halftime 12-8, but we were playing the better rugby only failing to turn this into points.

Back for the second half we were energized knowing that we were on the verge of writing new history for Edinburgh, Scotland, and ourselves as a team.

We dominated the second half, raising the tempo, dominating the lineouts and putting them under pressure with our kicking game, forcing them into mistakes.

After they lost possession, we launched a counterattack from our own 22; eightman Bill Mata ran almost 50 meters before making one of the best off-loads I’ve seen in my life for James Johnstone to score under the posts and seal the game. 

Toulon attempted a comeback but we would not allow them to take the game from us.

The game decided, and as the local fans left the ground before the final whistle, you could only hear our delighted fans happy from making the trip to the South of France.

The ground, their vocal support, the pepper gas near the ground with the protesters against President Macron -- none of it managed to move us from our goal: travel, play rugby, stick to our plan, attack and defend, win.

We won, we wrote new history. Montpellier lies ahead at home in Murrayfield. We are now in a position to continue writing history. If we win, we will have managed to secure a home quarterfinal.