Connacht had Edinburgh on the back foot for the opening spell and after six minutes stand off Ian Keatley banged over his second penalty attempt, with Edinburgh flanker Alan MacDonald sin-binned for the foul.

Edinburgh hit back straight from the kick-off, however, Phil Godman’s inside pass setting Mark Robertson off on a storming run from 40 metres out which ended under the posts, giving Chris Paterson the simplest of conversions.

Paterson and Keatley traded penalties but Edinburgh were unable to make possession count against a dogged Connacht defence until Paterson sent over penalty number three.

On the half-hour, a promising Connacht move broke down on the Edinburgh 22 with a fumble by scrum-half Frank Murphy. Edinburgh lock Craig Hamilton pounced on the ball and his lusty hack downfield ended with Ben Cairns going over the try-line.

Paterson converted to take Edinburgh into the break with a comfortable 20-6 lead.

A double whammy for Edinburgh in the opening nine minutes of the second half took the game beyond Connacht, as first Cairns’ break to five metres from the Connacht line was finished off by Paterson.

Robertson then grabbed his second try after Phil Godman’s quick tap penalty set up the field position.

Ally Hogg then strolled over off the back of a scrum with an increasingly frayed Connacht down to 13 men.

Flanker MacDonald went in for try number six, Andy Turnbull scampered 50 metres for the next one, while Paterson kept up an unblemished kicking record for the night as he converted the lot.

Fionn Carr’s 67th-minute try for Connacht was no consolation, particularly as Edinburgh went straight back down the field for Roddy Grant to go over, with Paterson’s conversion bringing up a total of 27 points for the Scotland full-back.