Connacht (8) 8
Tries: Donnelly
Pens: Donnelly

Edinburgh kept alive their Magners League title hopes with a comfortable bonus-point win at Murrayfield.

Tim Donnelly's penalty put Connacht ahead before Phil Godman converted his try for the Scots.

Donnelly went over for Connacht but a Godman penalty earned Edinburgh a 10-8 lead at half-time.

The Gunners dominated after the break and pulled clear with tries from Craig Smith, Hugo Southwell, Ally Hogg and Matt Mustchin.

Interview: Edinburgh captain Ally Hogg

Connacht made life difficult for Edinburgh for an hour - but they had no answer to the power and pace of Andy Robinson's troops when it mattered most.

And they pouched the bonus point they needed to stay on the heels of Leinster and Llanelli.

The hosts had the better of the disjointed opening exchanges - yet found themselves three points adrift after eight minutes.

Edinburgh gave away a penalty for offside and Donnelly confidently slotted the goal.

Smith powered over for a try for the home side

They recovered quickly from the setback and snatched the advantage as stand-off Godman pounced for an opportunist try.

He added the extra points for good measure - providing his side with the ideal platform.

Godman's effort came just 60 seconds after the province had been depleted through the sin-binning of prop Robbie Morris.

Edinburgh were stunned, however, when Connacht reclaimed the initiative with a brilliant touchdown from 75 metres.

The Gunners were pressing hard as the alert Donnelly snatched a floated Godman pass deep inside his own danger zone.

He orchestrated a clever one-two with Danny Riordan before cruising to glory.

To add to the frustrations of the capital outfit, Godman sent a penalty wide of the target with the interval approaching.

Edinburgh stepped up the pace, but Southwell and Smith were blocked just short of the line.

They did not come away empty-handed as Godman rediscovered his range to clip over a penalty from 20 metres.

Then came a moment of controversy which resulted in home star Ben Cairns being yellow-carded in a blatant case of mistaken identity by Welsh referee James Jones.

It was Simon Webster who impeded the opposition at a tapped penalty in stoppage time - but a furious Cairns took the rap.

The Gunners continued to look nervy after the restart, but they struck a crucial blow with a score by Smith.

Godman's deft chip was scooped up by Cairns, who created the time and space for the front-row man to rumble over.

And Godman's wide angled conversion was perfectly executed to give his team a nine-point advantage.

Southwell skipped in for Edinburgh's third try to give Godman a simple conversion.

Skipper Hogg snapped up the all-important fourth touchdown before sub Mustchin rounded off the rout, Godman taking his conversion tally to five.

Scotland captain Ally Hogg, who recently returned from Scotland's Six Nations campaign said: "We were keen to put in a performance tonight. We've historically struggled after the Six Nations, but the whole squad really fronted up tonight.

"I was really pleased the way the guys came out in the second-half and really performed.

"We struggled a little bit in the first-half, but in the second half we scored some good tries and got over the game line."

Edinburgh: Hugo Southwell, Simon Webster, Ben Cairns, Nick De Luca, John Houston, Phil Godman, Mike Blair, Gavin Kerr, Andrew Kelly, Craig Smith, Craig Hamilton, Ben Gissing, Allister Hogg, Ross Rennie, David Callam.
Replacements: Augusto Allori, Steve Lawrie, Simon Cross, Matt Mustchin, Ben Meyer, Calum MacRae, Andrew Turnbull.

Connacht: G Duffy; K Matthews, M Mostyn, M Deane, A Wynne; T Donnelly, C O'Loughlin; J Lyne, A Flavin, R Morris; A Browne, A Farley; J Muldoon, J O'Connor, C Rigney.
Replacements: J Merrigan, B Wilkinson, R Loughney, D Gannon, M McCarthy, C McPhillips, T Nathan.