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Wales prop Gethin Jenkins returned for the Cardiff Blues in this comfortable home Pro12 win over Edinburgh.

Jenkins, 32, had been out of action for four months with a calf injury following the British and Irish Lions' tour of Australia.

Wing Alex Cuthbert scored two tries to give the hosts a second win of the season.

Leigh halfpenny registered the rest of the Blues points, while captain Grieg Laidlaw scored Edinburgh's points.

Jenkins played for 60 minutes and his return to action, with the autumn internationals looming in November, will have been welcomed by Wales coach Warren Gatland.

This was a confidence-boosting win for a young Blues side which had won just one of their previous four Pro12 games.

The return of prop Jenkins and lock Bradley Davies, who was back after serving a suspension, added some much-needed experience and power to the Blues.

But this was a scrappy performance by the home side, dominated by too many unforced errors and too many loose kicks.

They were in control in the opening passages of the game but had little to show for all their territory and possession against an Edinburgh side who find themselves bottom of the Pro12.

Halfpenny proved a great comfort in the early part of this game and the Lions man of the series finished with a personal tally of 19 points.

He and Laidlaw swapped early penalties before the Blues finally crossed for wing Cuthbert's first try.

Centre Owen Williams' grubber kick was snapped up by Harry Robinson before he put Williams away with his inside pass.

Williams was tackled on the visitors' 22m line but a simple passing movement saw Cuthbert finish off the move in the right hand corner with a try.

Halfpenny converted Cuthbert's try before Laidlaw replied with his third and fourth penalty to claw his side back to within a point of their hosts to make it 13-12 at the break.

Laidlaw missed a chance to give Edinburgh the lead straight after half-time when his fifth penalty hit the post.

The Scots did think they had scored a try when flanker Tomas Leonardi claimed he had scored after Edinburgh had been held up on the Blues try line.

But the video referee ruled that he had made a double movement and ruled out the score and the home side cleared their line.

Halfpenny replied with three quick penalties to give his side a 10-point cushion midway through the second half with a 22-12 lead.

The Blues then took full advantage of Edinburgh being a man down after they lost replacement Cornell du Preez for 10 minutes as he was show a yellow card.

Cuthbert finished the Blues' second try when fly half Rhys Patchell launched an attack from deep inside his own half, with centre Cory Allen, Halfpenny and Sam Warburton all combining to put the big wing in under the posts.

Cuthbert thought he had scored a hat-track for the Blues five minutes from time but the video referee ruled he had been held up over the line.

Cardiff Blues: Leigh Halfpenny; Alex Cuthbert, Owen Williams, Cory Allen, Harry Robinson; Rhys Patchell, Lloyd Williams; Gethin Jenkins, Matthew Rees (capt), Taufa'ao Filise, Bradley Davies, Filo Paulo, Josh Navidi, Sam Warburton, Andries Pretorius.

Replacements: Kristian Dacey, Scott Andrews, Sam Hobbs, Lou Reed, Robin Copeland, Lewis Jones, Gareth Davies, Dafydd Hewitt.

Edinburgh: Jack Cuthbert, Dougie Fife, Joaquin Dominguez, Ben Atiga, Tim Visser, Harry Leonard, Greig Laidlaw (capt), Alasdair Dickinson, Ross Ford, Willem Nel, Sean Cox, Izak van der Westhuizen, Dimitri Basilaia, Tomas Leonardi, David Denton.

Replacements: James Hilterbrand, Wicus Blaauw, Geoff Cross, Ollie Atkins, Cornell Du Preez, Sean Kennedy, Matt Scott, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne.

Referee: George Clancy (IRFU)

Assistant Referees: Neil Hennessy, Neil Perkins (both WRU)

Citing Commissioner: Denis Jones (WRU)

TMO: Gareth Simmonds (WRU)