The Gunners went into this match at Stade Ernest Wallon knowing they would need to create history by becoming the first Scottish side to notch a European win on French soil.

But, despite a gutsy display, the pace and power of the cup holders proved too much in the end.

Edinburgh were given an early warning of the task ahead when the Frenchmen almost scored within 30 seconds.

Phil Godman’s kick-off was gathered by Vincent Clerc who immediately carved his way through the Gunners’ defence on a sparkling 70-metre run. Only desperate last-ditch tackling kept Toulouse out.

However, the opening score was only delayed for a couple of minutes when the hosts made a series of scrums count. A pick-up by Isitolo Maka made the opening for his brother Finau to plunge over despite Alasdair Strokosch’s vain bid to get a hand under the ball.

Jean-Baptiste Elissalde slotted the conversion before the Gunners showed the first signs of resistence through Godman’s 35 metre drop-goal.

The visitors might even have grabbed a dramatic lead soon after when hooker Dougie Hall caught Toulouse on the hop by launching a surprise counter-attack from close to his own line. Hall fed Ally Hogg whose kick ahead was smothered by Cedric Heymans as a clutch of Edinburgh players closed in.

Todd Blackadder’s fired-up troops squandered an even better chance when Godman completed an enterprising move with a cross-field kick to the unmarked Hugo Southwell. However, the big full-back spilled the slippery ball with the line gaping.

A similar chance went begging at the other end when Heymans flapped at a superb angled chip from Jean-Frederic Dubois.

Edinburgh did reduce the deficit when Chris Paterson slotted a penalty but the French suddenly stepped up a gear to stun the visitors with a devastating try double. Romain Millo-Chluski was first to cross the line from a feed by Yannick Nyanga after Simon Webster failed to gather a punt to the 22-metre line.

Dubois converted and just 90 seconds later replacement Florian Fritz sped through the middle and held off Godman’s feeble tackle to score under the posts.

The Gunners looked in danger of being totally over-run as Toulouse turned on the style but instead they dug deep to reduce the deficit with a dramatic score which silenced the gloating French fans.

Scrum-half Mike Blair was the architect with a brilliant twinkle-toed run from halfway before Paterson burst through two tackles to score in the corner. The Scotland star stroked a superb conversion to keep his side in contention.

Torrential rain made conditions even tougher as the match wore on and it was another handling error which allowed Toulouse to open up a 15-point gap after 55 minutes.

Neither Southwell nor Paterson was able to hold an up and under before Dubois sprinted over unchallenged and Elissalde converted.

This time there was no way back for the Gunners who conceded their fifth converted try when the classy Yannick Jauzion presented Nyanga with a simple touchdown and Elissalde again added the extras.

Toulouse continued to pile on the pressure but Edinburgh refused to buckle under the threat of a real rout.