Edinburgh 37-21 Cheetahs: Toolis, Graham, Mata & Ritchie cross

Darcy Graham crosses for Edinburgh's second score

Edinburgh claimed consecutive Pro14 wins for the first time this term with a hard-fought victory over Cheetahs.

Ben Toolis and Darcy Graham tries had Edinburgh 13 points up at the break, despite a stunning Cheetahs' try.

A Rabs Maxwane double put the visitors in front, but the boot of Simon Hickey restored Edinburgh's lead.

Calm was then restored in the Edinburgh ranks when Bill Mata bumped over. And Jamie Ritchie dotted down to seal the bonus point in the final minute.

• Relive Edinburgh's win as it happened

The two faces of the Cheetahs

The Cheetahs are the only Pro14 side without a win this season, but they do not do dull games.

The South Africans had conceded 199 points in their opening five matches - an average of almost 40 a game - but had scored four more tries than Edinburgh this season.

After Hickey had opened the Edinburgh account with a penalty, Duhan van der Merwe burst through two tackles and rampage into the Cheetahs' half, only for Hickey to receive the ball and offload forward. The Kiwi redeemed himself by knocking over another penalty.

Edinburgh always looked threatening but lacked precision, until some meticulous phase building ended with Toolis crashing over from barely a metre, Hickey nailing the conversion.

If Edinburgh's try was about the grunt of the forwards, Cheetahs' opener was all about the searing pace of winger Maxwane, who bounded from his own half, past Blair Kinghorn and then offloaded to Nico Lee to cross for a quite stunning score.

The try came from nothing. But almost instantly the far less impressive face of the Cheetahs - their defence - showed itself as Edinburgh hit straight back. Hickey and Kinghorn shovelled the ball along the line to put Darcy Graham in at the corner.

Bill Mata's try - Edinburgh's third - allowed the the hosts to relax

Edinburgh find a way

Coach Richard Cockerill had targeted two bonus-point victories against Benetton and the Cheetahs before Edinburgh's Champions Cup campaign starts next week.

In that sense, it is job done, but Cockerill will know Edinburgh need to improve dramatically to have any chance against the stars of Montpellier.

After working hard to establish a 13-point half-time lead, their intensity dropped at the start of the second-half, and the Cheetahs pounced. First Maxwane bulldozed over Henry Pyrgos when set free in the corner, then crashed over again minutes later to put them in front.

But again the South Africans gifted Edinburgh a reprieve when they were penalised at the ruck. And Hickey put Edinburgh back in front by two.

It then became huff and puff stuff for the hosts as the forwards dictated play. First a lineout maul trundled over the line but somehow the ball was held up.

Then, from the resulting scrum, Bill Mata - a colossus again after his 28 carries against Benetton - picked from the base and bounced off two defenders to touch down and give Edinburgh breathing space.

The Cheetahs pressed for a way back in but simply ran out of steam, and Jamie Ritchie secured the crucial bonus-point win after another huge maul rumbled over the line.

Edinburgh: Kinghorn; Graham, Johnstone, Socino, Van der Merwe; Hickey, Pyrgos; Sutherland, McInally (capt), Nel, Toolis, Gilchrist, Bradbury, Watson, Mata.

Replacements: Ford, McCallum, Berghan, Hamilton, Ritchie, Kennedy, Van der Walt, Dean.

Cheetahs: Fouche, Small Smith, Van Jensburg, Lee, Maxwane, Schoeman, Meyer; Nche, Du Toit, Coetzee, Basson, Du Preez, Jordaan, Pokamela, Malan.

Replacements: Dweba, Marais, Van Vuuren, Steenkamp, Maartens, Nonkontwana, Venter, Mgijima.