Things got even better for the Scots just four minutes later when Cairns, having been set up by Blair and Nick de Luca, outpaced the home cover to race in from the right for another try which Godman converted.

Suddenly 14-5 behind, Ulster could not reply before half-time as Wallace missed a penalty and Edinburgh extended their lead to 12 points thanks to a lengthy penalty strike from Godman.

Six minutes into the second half, Godman repeated the trick for a 20-5 scoreline and Robinson's men were almost out of sight. Ulster had to hit back and fast.

They dominated possession for the remainder but were limited to penalty kicks from Wallace. Ireland's back-up fly-half from the World Cup landed three successive penalties after 49, 61 and 69 minutes to whittle Edinburgh's advantage down to 20-14.

Wallace was joined at half-back for the closing quarter by Kieran Campbell, who was winning his 100th cap, and had Ulster had a slice of luck at that stage, you sensed they could have turned things around.

As it was, the closest they got to a second try was when Bowe was held up just short of the Edinburgh whitewash.

Ulster might have even lost their grip on a losing bonus point - Godman missed a kickable penalty in the 70th-minute but Edinburgh hung on to take the spoils during a frantic finish.