Gregor Hunter went some way to making a name for himself in Edinburgh colours as his try handed the Scots their first win of the new Pro12 season, seeing off previously unbeaten Connacht 19-14 at Murrayfield.

Most of the talk in the build up to the game concerned the coaches with Edinburgh's Michael Bradley going up against his former side and Eric Elwood aiming to lead Connacht to three successive wins at the start of the season for the first time since the new format was introduced in 2003.

But it was teenager Hunter who grabbed the headlines with the only try of the game late on, deciding an otherwise error-strewn clash that saw Greig Laidlaw and Matthew Jarvis trade penalties throughout.

There was a cagey atmosphere to the opening exchanges with both sides' penalties counts climbing early on with neither able to stamp their authority on proceedings.

Connacht scrumhalf Frank Murphy made the first clean break of the night in the tenth minute with an incisive step and go but after being awarded a penalty flyhalf Jarvis was wide with his kick.

The first half hour was riddled with errors and when Edinburgh were again penalised, this time for crossing, Jarvis again failed to add the three points.

And he was nearly made to pay immediately but in keeping with the tone of the half, Edinburgh flyhalf Laidlaw's penalty attempt fell short of the posts.

Laidlaw then tried to atone for his error with a clean break of his own but a knock-on halted the momentum but he soon made up for it as a he kicked a regulation penalty to put the home side 3-0 up four minutes before the interval.

And on the stroke of half-time Edinburgh made it a flattering 6-0 as Laidlaw slotted home after yet more indiscipline from the Westerners, despite having Gavin Duffy in the sin bin.

Connacht came out of the break looking to get on the scoresheet as soon as possible and it didn't take them long, Jarvis finally finding the posts with an easy penalty four minutes in.

Laidlaw and Jarvis then traded penalties before the Scot re-established the host's six-point lead with another kick on 54 minutes.

Replacement Niall O'Connor took over the kicking duties for Connacht and struck a penalty of his own two minutes later but being pegged back again seemed to wake Edinburgh up, Tim Visser going close to scoring the first try of the match.

But where Visser failed replacement Hunter succeeded, the youngster capitalising on a charged-down O'Connor kick to go over on 70 minutes, Laidlaw adding the extras.

O'Connor looked to make amends straight away, going over for a try of his own just four minutes later following some good Connacht territory, only to miss his own conversion.

And despite some late Connacht pressure, Edinburgh held on to pick up their first win of the season and exact a first defeat on their Irish visitors.

Darren Cave's quickfire double kept up Ulster's perfect start to the new Pro 12 season as they easily dispatched the Cardiff Blues 20-3 at Ravenhill on Friday.

Both the Blues and the Ulstermen headed into this clash with two wins from as many games but centre Cave effectively ended the contest before the interval, supported by the boot of Ian Humphreys.

Ceri Sweeney kicked a penalty midway through the second half for Cardiff but it was nothing more than a whimper as teenager Paddy Jackson kicked a late effort to notch up his first senior points for Ulster and put the result beyond any doubt.

The wind around Ravenhill caused home flyhalf Humphreys trouble in the opening exchanges, the No.10 missing an early penalty only to make amends on five minutes for an early lead.

But the scoreline stayed on the slim side until just before the half-hour as Humphreys missed two more kicks at goal, the second well wide of the left upright.

And it was Cave who spared Humphreys' blushes, the centre supporting a superb break by Craig Gilroy to finish off when the wing was ankle-tapped just metres from the Blues' try-line.

But Cave wasn't finished there, going over just minutes later following an Ulster line-out, Nevin Spence showing quick hands in the build up and the 24-year-old using the conditions to his advantage as he slid in from some way out.

And Humphreys put his difficult start to the match behind him by kicking both conversions to give the Ulstermen a 17-0 half-time lead.

Cardiff offered very little in the first half and on 53 minutes their task was made harder when Xavier Rush saw yellow for a high tackle on Pedrie Wannenburg.

But after withstanding heavy Ulster pressure the Blues finally got on the scoreboard with 15 minutes to go, flyhalf Sweeney landing a penalty.

However, there was nothing else for the travelling fans to cheer as Ulster's Jared Payne nearly celebrated his debut with a try, only for his fly-hack to go out of touch with nobody between him and the try-line, before Jackson added a late penalty for the hosts.

Edinburgh 19-14 Connacht

The scorers:

For Edinburgh:
Tries: Hunter
Cons: Laidlaw
Pens: Laidlaw 4

For Connacht:
Tries: O'Connor
Pens: Jarvis 2, O'Connor

Teams:

Edinburgh: 15 Tom Brown, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Jim Thompson, 12 James King, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Greig Laidlaw (captain), 9 Chris Leck,8 David Denton, 7 Roddy Grant, 6 Sean Cox, 5 Steven Turnbull, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Jack Gilding, 2 Steve Lawrie, 1 Kyle Traynor.
Replacements: 16 Andrew Kelly, 17 Robin Hislop, 18 Shaun Knight, 19 Esteban Lozada, 20 Stuart McInally, 21 Alex Black, 22 Gregor Hunter, 23 Matt Scott.

Connacht: 15 Gavin Duffy, 14 Mark McCrea, 13 Eoin Griffin, 12 Henry Fa'afili, 11 Tiernan O'Halloran, 10 Matthew Jarvis, 9 Frank Murphy, 8 George Naoupu, 7 Johnny O'Connor, 6 John Muldoon, 5 Mike McCarthy, 4 Michael Swift, 3 Rodney Ah You, 2 Ethienne Reynecke, 1 Ronan Loughney.
Replacements: 16 Adrian Flavin, 17 Brett Wilkinson, 18 Dylan Rogers, 19 Dave Gannon, 20 Ray Ofisa, 21 Paul O'Donohoe, 22 Niall O'Connor, 23 Brian Tuohy.

Referee: Alan Falzone

Ulster 20-3 Cardiff Blues

The scorers:

For Ulster:
Tries: Cave 2
Cons: Humphreys 2
Pens: Jackson

For Cardiff Blues:
Pens: Sweeney

Teams:

Ulster: 15 Jared Payne, 14 Craig Gilroy, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Nevin Spence, 11 Ian Whitten, 10 Ian Humphreys, 9 Paul Marshall, 8 Robbie Diack, 7 Chris Henry, 6 Pedrie Wannenburg, 5 Dan Tuohy, 4 Lewis Stevenson, 3 Jerry Cronin, 2 Andy Kyriacou, 1 Declan Fitzpatrick.
Replacements: 16 Nigel Brady, 17 Paddy McAllister, 18 Adam Macklin, 19 Neil McComb, 20 Mike McComish, 21 Ian Porter, 22 Paddy Jackson, 23 Adam D'Arcy

Cardiff Blues: 15 Chris Czekaj, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Gavin Evans, 11 Tom James, 10 Ceri Sweeney, 9 Lewis Jones, 8 Xavier Rush, 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Maama Molitika, 5 Paul Tito (captain), 4 Michael Paterson, 3 Scott Andrews, 2 T Rhys Thomas, 1 Sam Hobbs.
Replacements: 16 Rhys Williams, 17 Nathan Trevett, 18 James Monck, 19 James Down, 20 Thomas Young, 21 Richie Rees, 22 Rhys Patchell, 23 Dafydd Hewitt.

Referee: James Jones (Wales)