Edinburgh 28-13 Cardiff Blues

Cardiff Blues paid heavily for their indiscipline as Edinburgh eased to a Pro12 victory at Murrayfield.

Jarrad Hoeata, Ellis Jenkins and Sam Hobs were yellow carded for the Blues.

Andries Strauss' early try and precise kicking by Tom Heathcote put Edinburgh on the front foot.

Gareth Davies kicked a couple of penalties for Cardiff, but second-half tries from Dougie Fyfe and Tom Brown ensured a home win before Adam Thomas went over for a late Blues reply.

Gareth Anscombe, who has a Welsh mother, made his Blues debut at full-back after leaving his native New Zealand to pursue Wales honours.

But the battle of the debutants was won by Edinburgh prop Grant Shiells on his bow after arriving from Bath in the week leading up to the game.

Edinburgh started the game three points ahead of the visitors in eighth in the table and the win consolidated their place.

Both sides were looking to recover from defeats by Irish opposition - Edinburgh against Leinster and Cardiff at the hands of Munster.

The visitors' determination boiled over after only four minutes, when Hoeata was sin-binned for punching Ollie Atkins.

Edinburgh made their man advantage tell after pressure close to the Cardiff line, with Sam Hidalgo-Clyne giving Strauss a chance to find a gap to score.

Heathcote slotted the conversion only for Edinburgh to concede a penalty in front of the posts when Dave Denton strayed offside.

Davies' kick struck the nearside post but fell between the uprights.

Heathcote quickly restored the seven-point gap when Cardiff conceded a penalty in front of the posts.

When Edinburgh's Rory Sutherland was penalised for taking down a scrum, Davies had another chance to score, but his kick stuck the other upright and this time bounced clear.

The home side took advantage of the let-off and a long successful kick from Heathcote gave them a 10-point advantage.

Cardiff at last exerted some pressure, but Chris Dicomidis was held up on the Edinburgh line before their chances suffered a double blow with back row Jenkins being sin-binned then Heathcote took his turn to fire a penalty in off the posts.

Edinburgh would have been looking to take more advantage of their extra man, but Denton conceded a penalty immediately from the kick-off and Davies reduced the gap to 10 points before the half-time whistle.

Heathcote missed a chance from distance to extend the lead but made no mistake from the conversion after a spell of home pressure ended with Fyfe touching down in the corner.

It coincided with prop Hobbs becoming the third Cardiff player to receive a yellow card.

Brown finished a sweeping move in the other corner and, although Heathcote missed the conversion and Roddy Grant then Heathcote were both yellow carded, Edinburgh were now out of sight.

Cardiff quickly took advantage of Edinburgh being down to 13 men and Thomas dived over, with Davies adding the conversion.

Edinburgh head coach Alan Solomons: "It was a pity that we were down to 13 at the end as I thought a bonus point was there for the taking.

"It was a great team effort and it was great to see the heart of the team - the character and resilience they have shown has been incredible.

"It was a home game and it was vital that we got the victory."

Edinburgh: McLennan, Fife, Beard, Strauss, Brown, Heathcote, Hidalgo-Clyne, Sutherland, Hilterbrand, W. Nel, Atkins, B. Toolis, Coman, Grant, Denton.

Replacements: Cochrane for Hilterbrand (46), McKenzie for Atkins (67). Not Used: Shiells, Andress, Leonardi, Hart, Tonks, Scott.

Sin Bin: Grant (66), Heathcote (74).

Cardiff Blues: Anscombe, R. Smith, A. Thomas, G. Evans, Fish, G. Davies, L. Williams, Hobbs, Dacey, A. Jones, Hoeata, Cook, Turnbull, E. Jenkins, Vosawai.

Replacements: Walsh for Fish (68), Andrews for Hobbs (54). Not Used: R. Williams, T. Davies, Dicomidis, Navidi, L. Jones, G. Smith.

Sin Bin: Hoeata (4), Jenkins (36), Hobbs (57).

Att: 3,803

Ref: Leo Colgan (Ireland).