Edinburgh captain Mike Blair says that Scotland's Heineken Cup
are now longer looked at as weak or teams that are a soft touch.
Only one Scottish team have reached the quarter-finals of the tournament and that was Edinburgh in 2004.
Whilst there have been a number of false dawns where they looked like they could challenge for the knockouts stages, the Heineken Cup has not been kind to the Scottish teams.
Last season both teams won in France for the first time against Castres and Toulouse, respectively, and Blair insisted those victories had been felt across Europe.
"Scottish teams have gained a lot more respect from opposition sides in the Heineken Cup, whether they be from France, England , Italy, Ireland or Wales," he said.
"They respect the developments and progress we have made."
"Teams are starting to sit up and take notice of what we're doing.
"I don't want to harp on too much about the Glasgow win in Toulouse last season but that was one of the key things that made Europe realise Scottish teams can play a bit." he told the Scotsman.
Edinburgh kick off their Heineken Cup campaign at Stade Francais on October the 10th and Blair says that confidence in the team is high as they prepare to face the French heavyweights.
"We've made a lot of progress."
"We lost at the weekend but we'd won nine games on the trot in the Magners League before that," he said.
"We have a young squad that is making progress – last season we had our first win in France when we beat Castres.
"We found ourselves becoming more and more competitive in Heineken Cup matches, which is something we couldn't say six or seven years ago."
"We're building consistency at every level."
"We have a tough pool. Ulster we know well from the Magners League." Blair pointed out.
"Bath, we've come up against a few times, while our first trip to Paris will be a real experience for us."
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