Edinburgh were a bit like a Mastermind contestant in that they started and they finished, but the bit in the middle proved to be the problem as they slipped to a third successive defeat on the road.

It was a better loss than last week's in Connacht, if there can be such a thing, but that was of limited consolation after opening up an early 10-0 lead and then getting plenty of chances to snatch victory at the end.

"Overall it is a fairly disappointed changing room," admitted captain Mike Coman. "We started off well, but our error count is massive at the moment and can't win games like that. It was an improved performance against a better side, but the result was the same and we still lost so that is tough to swallow at the moment.

"We lost the game, those opportunnities were there, we had four chances to score a try but the final pass, knock-ons, little things were not there. It is good to get a bonus point, there were improvements, but we need to put it all together."

With Tommy Allan starring for Italy against Scotland, scoring 13 points including a well taken try, Harry Leonard - who used to keep Allan on the bench for Scotland under-20s - was himself once again on the bench for this one.

South African journeyman Carl Bezuidenhout started, but at least Leonard came on at half-time and if there were understandable periods of rustiness he played a crucial part in his side's second try with a long cut out pass to wing Tom Brown, who went over.

If Edinburgh's key players were mostly foreign, that was in sharp contrast with the Scarlets whose points all came from local products. In particular 20-year-old full back Jordan Williams showed what can happen when you give local talent their opportunity, scoring two tries.

Edinburgh had opened the scoring with centre Nick De Luca finishing off a good period of pressure by going over from close range, while the boot of Bezuidenhout extended the lead. Brown brought them back into the game before Warren put the Scarlets back ahead.

A Jack Cuthbert penalty put Edinburgh with losing bonus point range, but coach Alan Solomons was left frustrated they could not do more.

"We have ourselves to blame for not winning that game, our error rate was just through the roof there," he said. "We had a lineout close to our line, [which went] askew. We had another one where we take it up and a lone runner turns it over. Our error rate cost us. We are slowly and surely regaining respect from our opponents and the public, but to take the next step we need to cut out our errors."