EDINBURGH came close to claiming an encouraging victory against Newcastle Falcons at Murrayfield last night, fighting back strongly in the second half after being a dozen points down at one stage before conceding a late score. The fact that the visitors did just enough to end the friendly on top highlighted a problem which Edinburgh have resolved to iron out this season: the inability to close out games that appear to be there for the taking.

A more acute problem, however, could be the absence of Jason Tovey, who is expected to be out for six or seven weeks, according to head coach Alan Solomons, after dislocating a wrist in training. The Welsh stand-off enjoyed an impressive start to his Edinburgh career in the spring and is likely to be a big miss, even allowing for the fact that Duncan Weir has also joined the club.

The loss of Tovey, however, is likely to be counterbalanced by new recruit Junior Rasolea, whom Edinburgh had to thank in large part for their recovery after the break, as the replacement centre sparked new life into an attack which had run out of ideas. With the pack invariably rock solid and the defence having improved substantially, attack has been identified as the main area in need of a boost, and Rasolea is sure to provide it if he can keep on playing with the incisiveness he showed here.

“Defensively we were not good,” Solomons, the head coach, said after the game. “We lacked line speed and slipped tackles. Our lineout did not function.

“We can fix the lineout. We need to fix the defence.”

Having highlighted his team’s shortcomings, Solomons made the caveat that some players had been making their first outings of the season, and mentioned his satisfaction at having been able to give so many players a run out. “It’s still early days,” he added. “We need to give everyone game time.”

After being without several key international players in their narrow loss to Sale Sharks last week, Edinburgh brought back WP Nel, Rory Sutherland and Ross Ford to their starting line-up, and had John Hardie among a host of substitutes who would come off the bench. Newcastle, with their own Scotland internationals Jon Welsh and Scott Lawson in the front row, gave a debut to Vereniki Goneva, the Fijian winger who was formerly with Leicester. The Falcons, who had already beaten Nottingham, Doncaster and Gala in their warm-up games, took the lead when Chris Harris all too easily skipped through a tackle on the edge of the 22 and ran on to touch down between the posts. Mike Delany converted to emphasise his side’s early superiority.

Stuart McInally, Edinburgh’s joint captain for the season along with Grant Gilchrist, came off the bench as a temporary replacement after Ford took a knock. The hooker played his part in the build-up to a well-worked team try, and finished it off too by touching down in the left corner after Duncan Weir’s floating pass was swiftly moved on by Hamish Watson. Weir, who had twice come close to scoring a few minutes before his team’s try, added the two points to put his team level.

After being slow to get up to speed compared to their visitors, Edinburgh had begun to look far sharper, and the score was a fair reflection of the way play had gone over the first 15 minutes. Solomons’ team then went on to dominate the second quarter, but without being able to score - and were punished for that on the brink of the break when the Falcons took the lead.

A move tight on the left touchline should have been snuffed out by the Edinburgh defence, but Newcastle managed to keep it alive with some slick handling. They also somehow created an overlap, with Evan Olmstead availing himself of it to touch down. Delany again converted, to make the half-time score 7-14.

Edinburgh began the second half on the offensive again, but after 45 minutes more slackness allowed Newcastle to extend their lead, with a quick break from within their own 22 which ended in an unconverted try for Zack Kibirige. The number of substitutes used by both sides inevitably had an adverse effect on the continuity of play, but one replacement who undeniably added some zip to proceedings was Rasolea.

In a move similar to Newcastle’s opening try, the former Western Force player burst clear of a would-be tackler in midfield to touch down between the posts. Weir converted to close the deficit to five points.

Rasolea was soon back in the thick of things, and another break led to Edinburgh taking the lead. Hardie was up in support to collect the pass from the centre, and Weir was on hand to complete the move, then add the conversion which put his team two points up with quarter of an hour to play.

For a time that looked like being enough to clinch the win, but five minutes from time prolonged Falcons pressure ended with Callum Chick grounding for a score which Joel Hodgson converted. The final score might have seemed harsh to Edinburgh, but it was another useful lesson - as if one were needed - in the importance of converting pressure into points when on top.