Mike Blair said he was disappointed that his side did not turn ample opportunities into scores as their faint knockout hopes finally disappeared in the Galway sunshine.

“We are really disappointed. We didn’t play at the level we expect and we paid the price for that,” said Blair, whose side netted four tries to earn a bonus point.

“We have got to look at that, we need to sharpen up and make opportunities count but we turned over the ball far too easily.

“We were in a good position at 15-7 approaching half time but then gave away a try and that really left us with too much to do.”

Edinburgh, bidding to end a three-match losing run and keep their faint URC knockout hopes alive, enjoyed 64 per cent possession against the breeze but still went in trailing 20-7 at the interval.

Both sides revelled on the new artificial surface at the Sportsground and ran the ball at every opportunity, but Connacht were much more clinical as they sought a fifth successive league win for the first time since they were crowned champions in 2016.

Edinburgh’s sloppiness assisted them in their task and Connacht, needing to win to maintain their knockout place, punished them every time.

Poor defence in midfield saw a vast track of space open up for centre Cathal Forde after eight minutes and he went past Emiliano Boffelli on the outside before fending off Blair Kinghorn for the opening try.

Out-half David Hawkshaw, covering for injured skipper Jack Carty, failed to convert but he tacked on a penalty and then landed a conversion after Connacht flanker Conor Oliver got over after they went blindside off a scrum down the left after 21 minutes.

Their ability to finish chances from limited possession was in stark contrast to Edinburgh. Kinghorn went to the corners with three penalties but while they won the line-out each time and set up the drive, they failed to make yardage and were turned over each time by a superb home defence.

The pressure finally yielded a score six minutes from the break with a penalty to the right corner which was worked across the field at pace and then back again in a series of short drives which ended on the seventh attempt when Fijian tighthead Lee-Roy Atalifo squeezed over.

Boffelli added the simple conversion to cut the gap to 15-7 and, buoyed by that score, Edinburgh pushed forward before disaster struck when Connacht scrum-half Caolin Blade intercepted Kinghorn’s pass and ran from inside his own 22 to score and extend the lead at the interval.

Edinburgh needed a good start to the second half but it was Connacht who seized the initiative and they wrapped up the bonus point when No.8 Jarrad Butler scored off second phase off a scrum after a superb 50:22 from Hawkshaw. His conversion pushed the lead to 27-7.

Edinburgh got a glimmer of hope after 47 minutes when a break from Bill Mata was taken on by Mark Bennett and when he was stopped, Mata took it on and speed and surged over. Boffelli’s conversion made it 27-14 with Oliver binned in the move for not releasing as referee Ben Whitehouse lost patience with their high penalty count.

Edinburgh made the extra man count and replacement lock Glenn Young got over after 52 minutes to cut the gap to 27-19 before he had to go off for a HIA which resulted in Connacht going down to 13 players with Oisin Dowling binned for the high tackle.

But that was as close as Edinburgh got. Both sides emptied their benches and it disrupted the flow, with Connacht piling in on defence.

Any hope of a comeback disappeared when full-back Boffelli was binned for a mid-air collision and at 14-a-side it was Connacht who prospered.

Scrum-half Blade completed his hat-trick with two tries in three minutes, both times pouncing on hesitancy in the Edinburgh defence. It is the fifth time in six games that a Connacht player has scored a hat-trick, with Blade also recording one against the Lions in January.

Blade pounced on the line after 61 minutes to score and three minutes later the stand-in skipper struck to finish a move which started back in their own 22 when newcomer Shane Jennings stripped Mata to launch a counter-attack from deep.

Edinburgh, who now turn their attention to Leicester Tigers in the Champions Cup, grabbed a try bonus point when Kinghorn scored three minutes from time.

But it was a rare moment of putting a team to the sword by Edinburgh on a day when they had a lot to rue.

“We have a six-day turnaround now so we need to switch our focus to Leicester and try and learn from this,” Blair said.

Connacht – Tries: C Blade 3, C Forde,
C Oliver, J Butler. Cons: D Hawkshaw 2, T Daly 2. Pen: D Hawkshaw.

Edinburgh – Tries: L Atalifo, V Mata, G Young,
B Kinghorn. Cons: E Boffelli 3.

Connacht: O McNulty; D Kilgallen (S Jennings 48), T Farrell, C Forde, J Porch; D Hawkshaw (T Daly 61), C Blade (c) (K Marmion 67); P Dooley (J Duggan 55), D Tierney-Martin (D Heffernan 55), J Aungier (D Robertson-McCoy 53); O Dowling, N Murray (D Murray 53); C Prendergast, C Oliver, J Butler (S Hurley-Langton 59).

Edinburgh: E Boffelli; D Graham, M Bennett, J Lang (N Sweeney 62), D Hoyland (C Dean 62); B Kinghorn, H Pyrgos (B Vellacott 61); B Venter (L de Bruin 61), S McInally (D Cherry 53), L Atalifo (WP Nel 48); S Skinner, G Gilchrist (c); B Muncaster (G Young 48) (M Sykes 55), C Boyle, B Mata.

Referee: B Whitehouse (Wales).