A young Edinburgh side were put to the sword by Cardiff Blues who picked up a bonus point 38-15 win in their opening fixture of the RaboDirect Pro12.

The visitors’ experience and clinical edge in attack proved the difference as they romped away to the win having trailed midway through the second half.

Edinburgh created several chances with Tim Visser coming close but the home side eventually had to settle for five Greig Laidlaw penalties.

And Tom James’ try seven minutes from time guaranteed the bonus point for the visitors who showed they will be a force to be reckoned with despite the losses of Jamie Roberts and Sam Warburton among others to the Welsh World Cup effort.

Edinburgh had the better of the possession in the opening half but struggled to finish their chances, Visser being left frustrated on two occasions.

Ceri Sweeney and Laidlaw exchanged early penalties before Sam Hobbs crashed over for the first of two tries on 17 minutes with Edinburgh struggling to cope when the Blues injected some pace into the game.

Sweeney and Laidlaw added two more penalties apiece in the first half as Cardiff took a 14-9 lead into the break.

The Scottish side came flying out of the blocks in the second half and Sean Cox almost grabbed their first try only to be called back for Visser putting a foot in touch.

However they soon took the lead as Laidlaw added two more penalties, the first after Edinburgh full-back Jim Thompson had make a fantastic break only for the ball to be slowed down.

The lead did not last long, however, as Edinburgh conceded immediately from the kick-off, Andries Pretorius barrelling over to put the Blues back in front just before the hour mark.

And from there they didn’t look back with Sweeney adding a further penalty before Hobbs grabbed his second after a good give-and-go with Martyn Williams.

James adding the icing on the cake with the all-important fourth try before replacement Nathan Trevett was yellow carded for the visitors for persistent infringements with two minutes to go.