Magners League: Edinburgh 27-15 Newport Gwent Dragons

Visser scored a scintillating try against Dragons at Murrayfield

Edinburgh extended their winning run to three matches to claim a long-awaited win over a lacklustre Dragons.

Tries by Greig Laidlaw, Tim Visser and Chris Paterson, who also weighed in with a 12-point kicking haul, saw off the Welsh visitors.

Dragons responded with tries from Aled Brew and Adam Hughes - plus five points from the boot of Jason Tovey.

But Edinburgh, inspired by electric displays from Visser and Paterson, deserved the Magners League win.

The hosts made the perfect start and from the kick off earned a penalty, which Paterson stroked over.

Edinburgh dominated the next 29 minutes but failed to add to their points tally.

The closest they came was when Visser - the league's top scorer - broke from halfway and swatted off one tackler then chipped ahead, only to be beaten by Jonathan Evans in the race for the line.

And, although the Scots ran the ball at every opportunity and played some attractive handling rugby, there was a feeling that Edinburgh would pay the price for their profligacy in sight of the line.

So it proved when Tovey darted through a gap in the home defence and fed Brew, who powered over for the opening try of the night, with the creator adding the conversion.

The Edinburgh response was immediate. Visser broke from halfway and offloaded to Laidlaw, who skirted the final two defenders, slowed then accelerated away to touch down.

Paterson converted then hammered over a long-range penalty to give his side a 13-7 advantage at the break.

The opening minutes of the second half followed the same pattern as the first, but this time Edinburgh's pressure yielded points, with Paterson sending Visser thundering over for his 14th try of the league campaign.

Paterson added the extra points then was the beneficiary when Visser returned the favour eight minutes later to send the full-back scampering round behind the posts before stroking over the conversion.

Tovey clawed back three points with a penalty but was off the mark with the conversion attempt after Adam Hughes raced on to a kick ahead that eluded Visser and plunged over for the try.

Both teams were reduced to 14 men when Andrew Coombs and Esteban Lozada were dispatched to the sin-bin following a punch-up involving a handful of players from either side.

However, the absence of the duo made little difference as the match petered out amid a flurry of handling errors.

Edinburgh: Paterson, Webster, Thompson, De Luca, Visser, Laidlaw, M. Blair, Traynor, Kelly, G. Cross, MacLeod, Lozada, McInally, Rennie, Denton. Replacements: L. Jones for Webster (61), Niven for Traynor (66), Newlands for Rennie (65). Not Used: Walker, Hislop, S. Turnbull, D. Blair, Brown.

Newport-Gwent Dragons: Hughes, Pewtner, Riley, Smith, A. Brew, Tovey, J. Evans, Gustafson, S. Jones, Way, Coombs, A. Jones, Lydiate, L. Evans, Bearman. Replacements: M. Jones for Pewtner (61), W. Evans for J. Evans (56), Price for Gustafson (72), Burns for S. Jones (59), Castle for Way (72), Faletau for Bearman (50). Not Used: H. Ellis, Watkins.

Att: 2,935

Ref: D Wilkinson (Scotland)