The Auld Reekie fog was as much a distraction for Edinburgh as the Cardiff Blues as the capital side won their second successive Guinness PRO14 game in tough weather conditions at BT Murrayfield.
Two tries closed at close quarters from debutant Lee-Roy Atolifa and from hooker Dave Cherry and some powerful defence was enough to shut out the Blues from the scoreboard.
Young stand-off Nathan Chamberlain struck two penalties and a conversion and generally kicked well, but Edinburgh were guided brilliantly by captain Henry Pyrgos, who piloted his young side through the fog and kept the game under control almost from the start.
The pack had the advantage throughout and probably should have forced more tries until the fog fell and made the game something of a lottery for the last 20 minutes.
Edinburgh should have had more the a sixth minute penalty from rookie 10 Chamberlain for their early dominance, but kept losing attacking ball to Cardiff’s jackallers at the breakdown.
However on 24 minutes it was an Ally Miller steal in the Blues 22 that set-up the lineout drive, and Edinburgh showed greater security on their ball and patience in battering out a gap for debutant prop Atalifo to squirm over near the posts.
Chamberlain converted and ex-Edinburgh 10 Jason Tovey hit the post with the Blues’ only scoring chance of the half.
The Blues were repelled when they tried to maul and then batter their way over early in the second-half, and Edinburgh showed them how to do it with a powerful lineout drive for Cherry’s unconverted try on 53 minutes.
Then the fog really set in, and the error count from both sides multiplied in the glaur, Edinburgh missing a chance to seal it after multiple drives near the Blues line, and Cardiff had a great chance when Hallam Amos burst through but he held on when he should have passed.
Chamberlain’s second penalty as the Blues became ever more desperate concluded the contest.
Edinburgh: Jack Blain; Eroni Sau, Mark Bennett, Chris Dean, Jamie Farndale; Nathan Chamberlain, Henry Pyrgos (capt); Pierre Schoeman, Dave Cherry, Lee-Roy Atalifo; Andries Ferreira, Jamie Hodgson; Magnus Bradbury, Luke Crosbie, Ally Miller.
Replacements: Mike Willemse for Cherry 55, Dan Gamble for Atalifo 53, Marshall Sykes for Ferreira 65, Connor Boyle for Crosbie 65, Nic Groom for Pyrgos 78, Charlie Shiels, James Johnstone for Dean 72.
Cardiff Blues: Hallam Amos; Owen Lane, Garyn Smith, Max Llewellyn, Aled Summerhill; Jason Tovey, Lewis Jones; Brad Thyer, Kristian Dacey (capt), Dmitri Ahip; James Ratti, Rory Thornton; Josh Turnbull, Olly Robinson, Will Boyde.
Replacements: Ethan Lewis for Dacey 65, Corey Domachowski for Thyer 58, Scott Andrews for Ahip 55, Ben Murphy for Ratti 55, Sam Moore for Boyde 17, Jamie Hill for Jones 49, Ben Thomas for Tovey 49, Matthew Morgan for Summerhill 67.
Ref: Andrew Brace (IRFU)