IT was a hushed players' room at BT Murrayfield as David Denton, the Scotland No.8, explained to his team-mates that instead of joining them to prepare for their match Grenoble in the European Challenge Cup this weekend, he was cutting short his contract and heading to Bath with the prospect of competing for the Aviva Premiership and in the European Champions Cup.

The 25-year-old's move seems to have come as just as much of a surprise to his colleagues as to the Edinburgh fans who expected him to stay at least until the end of his contract with Toulouse being touted as his most likely destination.

"It’s a disappointing loss for Edinburgh, having a guy like Denton adds a lot of firepower," observed Will Helu, the Tongan international who moved to Scotland this season. "It would have been good to play alongside him but it is a professional sport now so a lot of people move on. We wish him all the best.

"We’ve still got a formidable pack. A lot of them are back-rowers with John Hardie coming in, and Hamish [Watson] playing the way he has been, Nasi [Manu] adding a bit of experience, and Cornell [du Preez] hopefully getting back to his best. And there are also young guys coming through like Magnus Bradbury and Jamie Ritchie, hopefully getting a run at some stage."

In fact 20-year-old Bradbury looks the most obvious beneficiary of Denton's move. Like Denton he is a bit, ball-carrying back row but such has been the strength in depth in the Edinburgh unit that he has struggled for game time and did not make the original European Challenge Cup squad.

Denton, who played 78 times for Edinburgh and won 32 caps, was born in Zimbabwe but has a Scottish mother and, despite attending school in South Africa, he has often said Scotland was the only country he wanted to play for. Indeed, he led a group of classmates to Port Elizabeth to watch Scotland play South Africa in 2006 and was one of the few spectators in a blue top surrounded by a sea of green jerseys.

He came to Scotland straight from school to start a course in economics at Edinburgh University and played every match for the national Under 20s in 2010, including the Junior World Championships, before winning his first full caps the following year. He signed a three-year deal with Edinburgh in 2013 but even before the sudden move from Bath it was clear his stellar World Cup had brought considerable interest from across Europe and the Scottish Rugby Union would have needed to find a lot of money to keep him – in the end they don't seem to have tried particularly hard.

"He’s been here six years so he has a lot of ties to Edinburgh and built a lot of friendships," added Helu. "I know from speaking to him that it was hardest decision of his life, leaving his best mates – especially at a club like Edinburgh which brought him to the next level and propelled him into the international game. But he’s got his own reasons and I didn’t go into depth with him about that.

"Most of us have only just found out. It’s just the nature of the sport nowadays. We had training but he’s been out with an injury so he hadn’t really been involved with the squad as much as he would have been normally. So it was just business as usual as we prepare for the Challenge Cup."

That remains the main focus for the players this week, with Grenoble, eighth in the Top 14, their immediate concern. They are familiar foes for Helu, who played 20 games for them six years ago, when they were still in the second division.

"They’ve changed their coaching set-up since then but there are a few boys I played with still there and I’ve played against them in the Challenge Cup [for Wasps] since then," he noted. "Lucas Dupant, the winger, Fabien Gengenbacher, the full-back and Jonathon Best is still there.And a few of the younger props and second-rows from that team have come through.

"When you play against clubs that you were with before, you want to show that there was a reason why you’ve moved on. Personally, I can’t wait for this game – the two previous matches I have played against them have been good."

Like all French clubs, Grenoble are something of a unknown quantity, especially in the Challenge Cup, which the French do not always take too seriously. Undoubtedly the Top 14 is their main target, as they go into their fourth season in the top flight still facing a fight for survival every year, so may see the Challenge Cup as a distraction.