Edinburgh chairman Gavin Hastings insists the Magners League side have every chance of causing an upset when they face Stade Francais in their opening Heineken Cup game of the season on Sunday.

Edinburgh became the first Scottish side to claim a Heineken Cup win in France when they beat Castres Olympique 13-6 in last year’s competition.

But Hastings’ men still failed to qualify from their group and the former Scotland captain is confident they can make a better impression this time around.

“I’m looking forward to experiencing the match, but I’m even more excited about watching Edinburgh competing strongly – we have got a good chance of victory,” he said.

“Achieving a win on French soil is not beyond the realms of possibility, as we showed last season. If we can get off to a winning start then we will be one step closer to qualifying for the quarter finals.”

Former Edinburgh pair Hugo Southwell and Simon Taylor may start for the hosts, with full-back Southwell featuring in Stade’s victory over Brive at the weekend.

Meanwhile Scotland internationals Chris Paterson, Ross Ford and Ben Cairns are all set to return for Edinburgh, and Roddy Grant will start at openside flanker.