Edinburgh romped to a impressively dominating semi-final win with five tries to book their place in the European Challenge Cup final in London next month.
In charge in most areas of the game, they were actually not full value for their 21-9 lead at half-time and when the Dragons pulled back to 21-16, it looked like a real contest was in the offing at BT Murrayfield.
Instead, under the weight of pressure from the power of the Edinburgh pack, the Dragons splintered and capitulated, shedding three tries in 15 minutes to turn the semi-final into a rout.
Stuart McInally and Tim Visser bagged the first half tries with Ben Toolis, the increasingly brilliant Sam Hidalgo-Clyne and Dougie Fife getting the three second half scores. All the Dragons won was the yellow card count, with three to Edinburgh’s none.
The teams swapped penalties to open the contest but Edinburgh looked far more dynamic with ball in hand and got an early man advantage when Toby Faletau, the only Welsh cap in the Dragons starting XV, was yellow carded for taking down a maul as the home side pushed for the line.
That allowed Edinburgh to grab the initiative with a storming opening try after 16 minutes.
McInally started the move by breaking tackles in midfield and the back rower converted to hooker playing in his old slot showed up again later in the move to smash aside four players on his way to the score, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne converting.
Dorian Jones’ second penalty kept the Dragons in touch but Edinburgh put together a concerted series of phases and showed great patience before Hidalgo-Clyne’s little back-door pass opened a massive gap for Visser to go in untouched.
Hidalgo-Clyne struck the post with the conversion, but struck two more penalties to one from Jones before half-time, the scrum-half’s own snipe setting up the first and scrum dominance providing the second for a 21-9 half-time lead.
The Dragons had to show some life, as they’d been the third best team on the pitch after Edinburgh and the half-time cheerleaders, and they quickly sparked in the second half.
Prop Brok Harris crashed over after some4 strong rolling mauls, and Edinburgh looked a little shaky as they continued to give away cheap penalties.
However Phil Burleigh’s lovely run on a long arc and combination with Visser nearly put the 10 in for the third score, Dragons’ scrum-half Jonathan Evans picking up the second yellow of the night for illegally stopping him.
Still the Dragons seemed to survived only for Jason Tovey to take too long over a routine clearance kick, Toolis charging it down and just making the touch before it crossed the dead ball line.
Hidalgo-Clyne converted, added a penalty, and then the livewire scrum-half ensured Edinburgh’s place in the final on the hour mark.
The pack did the donkey work shoving the Dragons off their own scrum ball, but Hidalgo-Clyne’s blistering pace from 30 metres out was too much for the Welshmen and he scored under the posts, converting himself.
Dragons tried desperately to rally but Roddy Grant’s strip of the ball in a tackle set Edinburgh in motion again and Fife was there to finish with a fifth try, leaving the visitors with just a third yellow card for hooker Rhys Thomas to complete their night.
Att: 8231
Edinburgh: J Cuthbert (T Brown 51); D Fife, S Beard (T Heathcote 76), A Strauss, T Visser; P Burleigh, S Hidalgo-Clyne (N Fowles 73); A Dickinson (R Sutherland 73), R Ford (N Cochrane 73), WP Nel (J Andress 73); A Bresler (F McKenzie 68), B Toolis; S McInally (C du Preez 68), R Grant, M Coman (capt).
Dragons: J Tovey (G R Jones 60); T Prydie (A Hewett 73), T Morgan, J Dixon, H Amos; D Jones, J Evans; B Harris, R Thomas, D Way (P Price 48); J Thomas, C Hill; N Crossewell, J Benjamin, T Faletau.