Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill is remaining hopeful that his side can finish their PRO14 season with a bang and qualify for the Champions Cup after their added-time victory over Connacht boosted their chances.

Nathan Chamberlin kicked a late penalty and then scored an 83rd minute try, while his conversion handed Edinburgh the perfect end to a tough night in Galway.

Such heroics on the day before the youngster celebrated his 21st birthday indicate Cockerill has a talented play-maker on his hands, and he insisted his progress is as a result of some diligent efforts away from game day.

“Look he has been working hard at his game, he has worked hard at training and it’s his seventh appearance on the field. He did some really good things, what it does is give him a real good base to keep building his game on,” said Cockerill.

“He made a good line break in the first half and to be honest I didn’t quite see how we got through under the posts. To be fair you needed to be under the sticks because the wind was so strong it was hard to kick the ball and control it.

“I am delighted for him, he is working hard at his game. He is being put under pressure to perform. I thought, considering the conditions, he played really well. He has got a lot of things to work on but I’m delighted for him and very proud how he’s working on his game and he got his just rewards tonight.”

As Cockerill said, it was Chamberlin’s brilliant linebreak that set Magnus Bradbury on the way to Edinburgh’s first-half try, a score that game very much against the run of play when Connacht were encamped in the Edinburgh half with a powerful wind at their backs. Connacht were 14-5 clear at the interval, but failed to score in the second half.

It looked as if the sending off of Connacht captain Jarrad Butler for a shoulder to the head of Andrew Davidson would not be punished by Edinburgh, but Chamberlin stepped up to give them the unlikely victory.

The win means Edinburgh now trail Scarlets by ten points in the standing, with two games in hand on the Welsh outfit. Cardiff are also ahead of Edinburgh in the standings, but the Blues and Edinburgh face off on Monday week.

While qualification looks unlikely, the mathematics are simple: Edinburgh must win all of their three remaining games – probably with a few bonus points too – to have a chance at third place in Conference B and the guaranteed Champions Cup place that accompanies it. Cockerill is not giving up the ghost just yet.

“Look we can technically finish third. We have still got three games to go, so we just keep working as a hard as we can and try to win. Fourth might get us a spot, fourth might get us a play off spot, who knows?

“It’s good for us tonight. I think it’s a first time a Scotland team has beaten an Irish province in over a year. So it’s good to break that duck as well.

“We’ve had a tough year. Our Test guys have played double the Test matches as they have club games. We are working under some difficult circumstance. We could have easily beaten Scarlets and we just fell short. We could have won it in Munster and we just fell short.

“Tonight we worked hard and we’ll take the luck when it comes with us. We have just got to keep working hard and keep working with the guys we have. As and when the world comes more normal we hopefully can build on what we have done in the last three and a half year.”

It looks likely that joint captain Pierre Schoeman will miss some of that run-in at least following the knee injury he sustained in Galway, although Davidson did return to the action following a second head injury in the space of a fortnight.

“Look, he has had some knocks on his head. We have got a very good medical team who go through all the process as anybody would. He was fit to play on,” said Cockerill.

“He [Schoeman] took a knock to his knee. I haven’t seen him and it’s obviously a bit early to get any prognosis on that.”