You have to hand it to London Wasps, when the chips are down they know how to turn in the wins. Under the cosh for large chunks of the game last night, they gave themselves a Heineken Cup lifeline as Danny Cipriani was handed six penalty goals within range and kicked them all plus a conversion to set up a victory that keeps them in the European hunt and must give their Guinness Premiership battle a real boost.

It was a reward for hard work and discipline in a game where real rugby skills were rare. Wasps defended as though their season depended on it, and reaped the reward as Edinburgh made enough suicidal blunders to allow Cipriani to claim the game before a late try from Tom Rees made it safe and robbed the Scots of the consolation of a losing bonus point.

More heartening still for Ian McGeechan, the Wasps director of rugby, was the way that his side responded after going behind midway through the second half. “I was very pleased with the last 20 minutes,” McGeechan said. “There was a lot at stake. I was pleased with the overall performance, it was very disciplined. We had to defend a lot, Edinburgh had a lot of possession and are a good attacking side. What we did without the ball was as important as anything we did with it.”

The contrast between the sides was exposed in the first half. Wasps had come to Murrayfield to win, Edinburgh tried to play fancy rugby, got the possession but struggled even to cross the halfway line, never mind the tryline, and the penalties that they conceded were ruthlessly punished by Cipriani, banging them over the bar from anywhere in the Scots’ half.

Edinburgh got on the scoreboard late in the half as Wasps were penalised for killing the ball, and Chris Paterson slotted the kick but they were the only points that they conceded in the first half.

However, two quickfire penalties just after the break brought the Scots back into it, Paterson kicking both, and there was another narrow escape for Wasps when Paul Sackey forced Nick De Luca, the Edinburgh centre, into touch inches from the tryline.

Then it was back to a repeat of the first half: Edinburgh on the attack, Wasps soaking up the pressure and looking for the breakout that would give them that decisive score. This they got when James Haskell, the No 8, snatched a loose ball at the base of a ruck, Cipriani hacked upfield and then put over the penalty when Edinburgh handled in a ruck.

On the pattern of the game up to then, it might have been enough, but from the restart Edinburgh managed to catch the Wasps defence napping and Phil Godman, the fly half, chipped over the top for Mark Robertson, the wing, to win the race for the line. Paterson’s conversion put the home side ahead for the first time.

But when Ross Rennie, the Edinburgh flanker, was penalised and shown a yellow card for going in high, Cipriani put his side back in front. With time running out and against 14 men Wasps made it safe when Rees barged over and Cipriani converted.

“We dug in, stuck to our guns and ground out a tough victory,” was the summation from Phil Vickery, the Wasps captain.

Scorers: Edinburgh: Try: Robertson (61min). Conversion: Paterson. Penalty goals: Paterson 3 (36, 44, 46).

London Wasps: Try: Rees. Conversion: Cipriani. Penalty goals: Cipriani 6 (5, 21, 25, 30, 59, 73). Scoring sequence (Edinburgh first): 0-3, 0-6, 0-9, 0-12, 3-12 (half-time), 6-12, 9-12, 9-15, 16-15, 16-18, 16-25.

Edinburgh: C Paterson; M Robertson, B Cairns, N De Luca, S Webster; P Godman, M Blair; A Jacobsen, R Ford (rep: A Kelly, 20), G Cross (rep: G Kerr, 74), C Hamilton (rep: M Mustchin, 60), J Hamilton, A MacDonald, R Rennie (sin-bin, 69-79), A Hogg. London Wasps: M van Gisbergen; P Sackey, D Waldouck, R Flutey, J Lewsey; D Cipriani, E Reddan; T Payne, R Webber, P Vickery, G Skivington (rep: S Shaw, 53), R Birkett, S Betsen, T Rees (rep: T French, 79), J Haskell.

Referee: C Berdos (France).

Attendance: 7,711.