Edinburgh (5) 11
Tries: Turnbull
Pens: Godman
DG: Godman

Phil Godman's late drop-goal earned Edinburgh a hard-fought win in dreadful conditions away to Cardiff Blues.

Andrew Turnbull gave the visitors an early lead when the wing raced over in the corner after good counter-attacking work from the Edinburgh backs.

Xavier Rush replied for the Blues with a pick-up from the base of a scrum when Edinburgh had two men in the sin-bin.

Blues full-back Ben Blair and Godman swapped second-half penalties, before the Scots' fly-half clinched victory.

The drop-kick sealed Edinburgh's fourth win in a row and sets them up well for next week's home Heineken Cup clash against Leicester.

The Blues, meanwhile, must hope their recent stutterings can be shaken off for their European clash against Harlequins back at the Arms Park.

606: DEBATE Give your thoughts on Blues v Edinburgh

Despite a layer of water sitting on the pitch because of a heavy downpour earlier, both sides made credible attempts to keep the ball under control.

Edinburgh made best use of the conditions, though, as Godman kicked to turn the Blues and keep the hosts penned back in their own half.

When Blues scrum-half Jason Spice was loose with a clearance kick from deep in his own 22 after eight minutes, Edinburgh pounced.

Ben Cairns countered swiftly from full-back and Godman was then involved as two long passes gave wing Turnbull time and space to canter over on the right.

Godman pushed his conversion just wide of the near post, but the Scots had a valuable five early points in what was likely to be a low-scoring match.

The Blues came back strongly and laid siege to the Edinburgh line but could not find a way past some sterling defence.

However, the Scots lost Nick De Luca to the sin-bin for 10 minutes as the half-hour mark approached, the centre infringing at a ruck, with lock Matt Mustchin soon following him for not rolling away.

The lack of numbers told as Blues skipper Rush picked up from the base of a scrum and crashed over the try-line, Blair converting for a 7-5 lead at the break.

A penalty from Godman put Edinburgh back into the lead and got the scoreboard moving again with the game in danger of getting mired in the mud after the restart.

Back came the Blues and a series of close drives from the forwards engineered a penalty chance that Blair accepted.

But with six minutes remaining Godman found a moment's space and time to drop a goal, keeping his balance and nerve to swerve the ball between the posts for an 11-10 win.

Blues: Ben Blair; Jamie Roberts, Tom Shanklin, Dafydd Hewitt, Gareth Thomas; Nic Macleod, Jason Spice; John Yapp, Gareth Williams, Gary Powell, Deiniol Jones, Scott Morgan, Maama Molitika, Robin Sowden Taylor, Xavier Rush (capt).
Replacements: Tauf'au Filise for Yapp (70), Duane Goodfield, Paul Tito for Morgan (60), Mark Lewis, Richie Rees, Rhys Jones, Tal Selley.

Edinburgh: Ben Cairns; Andrew Turnbull, Nick De Luca, John Houston, Simon Webster; Phil Godman, Mike Blair; Allan Jacobsen, Ross Ford, Geoff Cross, Matt Mustchin, Ben Gissing, Allister Hogg (capt), Ross Rennie, David Callam.
Replacements: Andrew Kelly, Augusto Allori for G. Cross (40), Craig Hamilton for Mustchin (61), Roland Reid for Callam (69), Ben Meyer, David Blair, Hugo Southwell for Cairns (59).

Att: 6,125

Referee: George Clancy (IRFU).