Ulster’s rugby players put their much publicised off-field troubles behind them at BT Murrayfield last night to record a bonus-point victory that breathed new life into their bid to reach the PRO14 play-offs.

It was another missed opportunity for the home side, who had been knocked out of the European Challenge Cup on their home turf the previous weekend, but at the end of a week that has seen their winger Craig Gilroy join fellow internationals Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding in being suspended, after he was caught up in the controversy surrounding their rape trial, this was a defiant showing from their colleagues at a vital stage in their season.

Neither side had managed to acquire a foothold in the opposition 22 before Edinburgh registered the first points nine minutes into the game, getting more than a bit lucky as a lineout went awry, only for Rory Best to be penalised for grabbing hold of the loose ball after he had gone to ground. Since the offence had happened pretty much directly in front of the posts on the Ulster 22 metre line and Dunc Weir was on the pitch for the home side, the price paid for the Ireland captain’s indiscretion was inevitable.

One of the stars of the national side’s recent Grand Slam triumph having been culpable in that instance, another played a key part in putting the visitors three minutes later, player of the Six Nations Jacob Stockdale showing his pace after a brilliant off-load from Charles Piutau gave him running room wide close to the left touchline inside Edinburgh territory and as he crossed the 22 with the cover getting to him, he drew the last man before sending Darren Cove in for a try converted by John Cooney.

Their four point advantage in turn lasted just three minutes until they were perhaps rather harshly adjudged to have handled in a ruck, again easily within Weir’s range, but the pattern of the scoring sequence was favouring the Irish province as they once again responded with a try that was rather too easily created as the narrowness of the Edinburgh defence was exposed by some quick handling from Best and Johnny McPhillips. That meant they had a noticeable numerical advantage by the time the ball reached Cave who fed Piutau as he arrived at pace.

A set-piece move then brought Ulster further rewards as, following a lineout on the right, Stockdale powered onto the ball in midfield and, having broken the defence, found Cooney in support with a clear 25 metre run to the line, the scrum-half converting to put his side 19-6 ahead with just 25 minutes gone.

Ulster were beginning to dominate, but with the home side needing a spark Weir provided it with a score that was rather less typical than his earlier strikes, intercepting a pass from Cooney just beyond his own 10 metre line and showing a surprising turn of pace to cover the best part of 60 metres before the cover could get to him, his conversion getting Edinburgh back within a score.

The stand off was instrumental in creating an opportunity for Edinburgh’s more recognised strike runner soon after, Blair Kinghorn taking his pass as the ball was moved from left to right, then breaking a tackle to get deep into opposition territory before putting too much weight on his chip ahead.

Having had time to regain their composure at the break, Ulster regained the upper hand in the early stages of the second half and forced Edinburgh into conceding a string of penalties, Cooney taking advantage as soon as one of them was within easy kicking range.

This time, though, it was Edinburgh who responded to a penalty with a try and they produced in a fashion that had the potential to have a huge impact on the respective psyches of both sides heading towards the closing stages.

Awarded a penalty on the five metre line which was so blatantly conceded that it might have earned a sin-binning, they opted to scrummage and, after Ulster stopped their first push-over attempt illegally, the penalty try was awarded when they did so the second time as they were being driven inexorably towards their own line.

Cooney made it a five point gap with his second penalty of the half from under the posts after Jamie Ritchie was penalised for playing the ball illegally after tackling Cave.

That gave Ulster breathing space, but a try for either side could still make a vast different to the arithmetic confronting them and it was Ulster who claimed it when, following a five metre scrum wide on the left, they worked their way infield through a succession of breakdowns before Ireland lock Iain Henderson powered his way over for the crucial fourth try.