Tom James scored two tries for Cardiff to inflict Edinburgh's second loss in eight Magners League games. A further try from Jamie Roberts and a penalty from Ben Blair handed Cardiff a sizeable half-time lead after Edinburgh were repeatedly penalised by referee Alan Lewis.

Edinburgh's performance was littered with uncharacteristic mistakes and the alarmingly high error count meant the home side were unable to translate possession into points.

On more than one occasion, Edinburgh gained territory only to lose momentum inside Cardiff's 22 and it was an off-key collective performance from a young team that has been the surprise success story of the Magners League so far this season.

With an average age of jusy 26, Edinburgh's inexperience showed against a Cardiff side that contained Wales skipper Martyn Williams, former Lions captain Gareth Thomas and Grand Slam winner Tom Shanklin.

Nevertheless Edinburgh can be incredibly proud of the progress made since September. Before the season started, Edinburgh were being tipped to finish rock bottom of the table, but going into the final furlong the team had every chance of finishing in second spot.

There is no getting away from the fact that it was a bitterly disappointing result for Edinburgh, but, like they did after the Heineken Cup demolition at Leicester, Robinson's rookies will bounce back; starting with the 1872 Challenge Cup match against Glasgow at Firhill.

Edinburgh Rugby Club squad against Cardiff at Murrayfield (Friday 28 March, kick-off 7.30pm)

 15 Hugo Southwell

14 Simon Webster

13 Ben Cairns

12 Nick De Luca (MacRae)

11 John Houston (Turnbull)

10 Phil Godman

9 Mike Blair (Meyer)

1 Gavin Kerr

2 Andrew Kelly

3 Craig Smith

4 Matt Mustchin

5 Craig Hamilton (Ben Gissing)

6 Simon Cross (Fergus Pringle)

7 Allister Hogg (captain)

8 David Callam

Substitutes: Steve Lawrie, Augusto Allori, Fergus Pringle, Ben Gissing, Ben Meyer, Calum MacRae, Andrew Turnbull.