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Toulouse took control of pool five of the Heineken Cup with a flattering victory over a spirited Edinburgh side.

Second-half tries from Frederic Michalak, Vincent Clerc and Fabien Pelous saw the French side home and left their hosts ruing a first-half failure to turn dominance into a winning lead.

Despite monopolising both territory and possession, Edinburgh turned round only 6-3 ahead, although their careless opponents deserved to be much further adrift.

Toulouse were casual throughout and made an astonishing 19 errors of all varieties during the opening 40 minutes.

Match facts

Edinburgh 9 Pens: Laney (3) Yellow card: Jacobsen Toulouse 30 Tries: Michalak, Clerc, Pelous Cons: Delaigue (3) Pens: Delaigue, Michalak, Pelous DG: Delaigue

Passes were dropped, kicks charged down, lineout throws went awry and the French aristocrats turned over possession eight times.

For all their spirit, though, Edinburgh could not make Toulouse pay, although captain Todd Blackadder was unlucky not to be awarded a try when he was driven over at the posts late on.

The Gunners must have feared that near-miss would haunt them and they received a reminder of the latent French threat on the stroke of half-time.

With home prop Allan Jacobsen in the sin-bin for punching, Yann Delaigue knocked over a penalty to bring Toulouse to within three points of the lead.

They are an outstanding side - to my mind they are the Real Madrid of European rugby Frank Hadden Edinburgh coach

Edinburgh's fears were confirmed within 15 minutes of the restart as Michalak scurried through a gaping hole at the back of lineout to score the opening try.

Delaigue's conversion took the lead to 13-6 and with the powerful French pack - the one area in which the visitors impressed - now turning the screw, the game looked to be moving away from the Scots.

But Toulouse again retreated into lethargy and Laney's third penalty gave Edinburgh renewed hope for the final quarter.

The Gunners battled on, only for Toulouse to finally knock the fight out of them when Clerc found a gap on the blindside to score a try converted by Delaigue.

And the visitors put a gloss on the scoreline in the closing stages with a Michalak penalty and a converted try from Pelous in injury-time.

Edinburgh: Lee; Webster, Laney, Dickson, Paterson; Hodge, Blair; Jacobsen, Hall, Smith, Hines, Murray, Blackadder, Leslie, Taylor.
Replacements: Di Ciacca, Brannigan, Perrett, A Dall, Burns, Philip, Joiner.

Toulouse: Poitreneau; Ntamack, Desbrosse, Garbajosa, Clerc; Delaigue, Michalak; Lecouls, Bru, Poux, Gerard, Pelous, Brennan, Labit, I Maka.
Replacements: Soulette, Servat, Lamboley, Bouilhou, Mahe, Jauzion, Jean-Jean.

Referee: David McHugh (Ireland)