A burst of preventable first-half scores left Edinburgh with too much of a mountain to climb as, despite a late rally that brought tries from Tim Visser and Geoff Cross, they fell to a 30-22 defeat against Dragons at Rodney Parade.
Interim head coach Nick Scrivener's first match in charge started and finished in promising fashion, Lee Jones having put the visitors ahead with a stunning score three minutes into proceedings.
In between that high point and those with which the match ended, however, there were just too many shortcomings for Edinburgh to have any real complaints about the result, despite them finishing tantalisingly close to their hosts on the scoreboard.
Set piece, ball retention and restarts will be high on Scrivener's list of priorities in the coming week, as his men prepare for another tough away assigment against Munster at Thomond Park on Friday (kick-off 7.50pm, live on BBC ALBA).
After more than holding their own as Dragons sought to turn the screw at a couple of early scrums, Edinburgh stormed into the lead with Jones' delightfully clinical touchdown.
Good hands in midfield from John Houston and Ben Cairns created a sliver of time and space for Tim Visser, and the Dutchman chipped ahead and set off in hot pursuit.
Jones, his fellow winger, was also handily placed to put his explosive pace to good use, and with the Dragons defence struggling to regroup, the Selkirk man touched the afterburners to reach the ball and dot it down before it dribbled out of play. Chris Paterson stepped up to knock over the conversion to the delight of the small but vocal away support.
Dragons, always cussed and relentless opposition, were keen to show their own ability in attack, and after Edinburgh were penalised for collapsing a scrum, the home side began an onslaught with a driven lineout.
The Welsh worked the ball back and forth across the Edinburgh defence, highly-rated winger Aled Brew coming inside to probe for gaps in the central channels. With the visitors preoccupied with his threat, loose-head prop Phil Price crept unchecked into the space where Brew would normally operate, and when Dragons created an overlap, the front-rower crashed over in the corner.
There was no conversion, so Edinburgh retained a slender lead, but passed up an opportunity to extend it shortly after when Paterson was marginally out with a penalty awarded for offside. There was no issue with the distance (a comfortable 39m), but the strong wind gusting across Rodney Parade didn’t exactly help.
As is his wont, Paterson quickly made amends, slotting over his next kick, this time from 30m, after referee Alan Falzone pinged Dragons for not rolling away.
It was soon Dragons kicker Jason Tovey’s turn to undergo a topsy-turvy spell. The stand-off missed with a 26th minute penalty, awarded when Alan MacDonald was adjudged to have kicked the ball out of a ruck, but enjoyed better luck shortly afterwards as he crossed for the home team’s second score.
An Ashley Smith kick ahead was well tracked by Jones, who got to the ball first right on the Edinburgh line, but couldn’t quite dig the thing out from his feet. Tovey gladly exploited the situation and converted his own try for good measure.
This unfortunate turn of events was to have an even worse sequel for Edinburgh. Another close-range driven lineout caused them all sorts of problems, and the Dragons pack marched relentlessly forward in search of another score. It was openside flanker Lewis Evans who ultimately smuggled himself over the line, Tovey converting to put Dragons seven points up.
The home side’s interval lead was stretched yet further just before the whistle, full-back Will Harries exploiting the time and space afforded him to send inside centre Smith powering through for the bonus-point score. Tovey again could not add the extras, but this was of scant consolation to the visitors.
HALF-TIME: DRAGONS 22 EDINBURGH 10
The second half began in much the same vein as the first had finished, Dragons firmly on the front foot and Edinburgh starved of possession. The Welsh side quickly got the scoreboard ticking afresh as Tovey banged over a 46th minute penalty from in front of the sticks.
Dragons soon had a fifth try to celebrate, another punishing maul making ground close to the Edinburgh line before blindside Andrew Coombs peeled away to dot down.
Right up against it by this stage, the men from the Scottish capital immediately came up with a score that at least provided a glimmer of hope.
Houston’s tremendous leg drive took them to within yards of the Dragons line, where a series of pick and goes ensued before Laidlaw found Visser crashing through on a great line to touch down. Paterson was just out with the attempted conversion, meaning Edinburgh were still more than two converted scores behind.
The final quarter was a fairly turgid affair when measured against the tempo of the rest of the game, the visitors attempting desperately to obtain some front foot ball and inject some urgency back into proceedings but struggling to knit together phases.
Late on, Laidlaw took a quick tap before feeding Cross to barge over.
Dragons: W Harries; A Hughes, M Watkins, A Smith, A Brew; J Tovey, W Evans; P Price, T Willis (captain), D Way, S Morgan, R Sidoli. A Coombs, J Bearman, L Evans
Subs: L Burns, H Gustafson, P Palmer, A Brown, H Ellies, P Leach, M Petri, M Jones
Edinburgh: C Paterson; L Jones, B Cairns, J Houston, T Visser; D Blair, G Laidlaw (captain); K Traynor, A Kelly, G Cross, C Hamilton, F McKenzie, S Newlands, N Talei, A MacDonald
Subs: A Walker, L Niven, D Young, E Lozada, R Grant, J King, S Webster, J Thompson
Ref: A Falzone (FIR)
