Edinburgh came from behind to thump Connacht in a blistering, eight-try display to move up to fourth place in the United Rugby Championship.

But Emiliano Boffelli, Henry Immelman and Dave Cherry, on his 50th Edinburgh game, replied before the break.

Blair Kinghorn, Ramiro Moyano, Immelman, Glen Young and Ben Vellacott all touched down in the second half.

Boffelli added eight successful conversions to his try.

Connacht remain in sixth place, seven points behind Munster, who have three games in hand over their Irish rivals and two over Edinburgh now four points above them.

Edinburgh head coach Mike Blair has consistently spoken about the importance of making fast starts in games, but it was Connacht who did the early running at Dam Health Stadium.

The home side's discipline was lacking in the opening 20 minutes - Mesu Kunavula was shown a yellow card for a flailing arm to the face of scrum-half Caolin Blade - and, as the penalties racked up, Connacht took advantage.

After Ireland fly-half Jack Carty kicked a straightforward penalty, Edinburgh were stretched defensively one time too many and wing Sullivan found himself free out wide to run in the game's opening try.

That was the wake-up call that Edinburgh seemingly needed. From that moment onward, their discipline tightened up, they were able to get possession of their own and struck back with a superb try.

Young stole a Connacht line-out and, in the aftermath, Kinghorn darted down the blind-side and found Boffelli with a pinpoint pass. The Argentine winger didn't need a second invitation and raced away to score in the corner.

Edinburgh looked a different side all of a sudden and, just four minutes later, Chris Dean's delayed pass put Immelman through a gap to score the easiest of tries.

Connacht had absolutely no answer to the new-found Edinburgh confidence and, on the stroke of half-time, the home side showed their forward grunt as Cherry dived over to score off the back of a rolling maul.

One would have been forgiven for thinking that the half-time whistle came at an unfortunate time for Edinburgh, with Connacht on the ropes, but the onslaught would continue after the break.

Kinghorn, dictating the play delightfully at stand-off, put Ben Muncaster into space with a Finn Russell-like pass flat to the line and, rather than admiring his work, went with Muncaster in support and strolled under the posts for a bonus-point score.

Kinghorn, perhaps auditioning for the Scotland number 10 shirt in Rome next weekend, then assisted Moyano for try number five.

Connacht looked more and more ragged as the second half went on and Immelman raced on to a Dean miss-pass without breaking stride for his second score of the night.

Further tries from Young and Vellacott took Edinburgh past the 50-point mark in a one-sided contest that few saw coming.

Edinburgh head coach Mike Blair: "I was really pleased with the performance. It was potentially a difficult fixture. As soon as we got a bit of possession, I felt we could get some pressure on them and get some points.

"We'll have to be better from the start against Glasgow, but the resilience we showed to come back from 8-0 down was excellent. We're missing 14 internationals from our forward pack, so I'm delighted with the guys coming in."

Connacht head coach Andy Friend: "We probably tried to force things a bit and Edinburgh showed us how to do things.

"We were in the game still at half time, but we didn't show up in that second half - and Edinburgh did."

Edinburgh: Immelman, Moyano, Lang, Dean, Boffelli, Kinghorn, Pyrgos, Venter, Cherry, Williams, Philips, Young, Muncaster, Boyle, Kunavula.

Replacements: McBurney, Courtney, Atalifo, Campbell, Brown, Vellacott, Van Der Walt, Currie.

Connacht: Porch, Sullivan, Arnold, Daly, Wootton, Carty, Blade, Duggan, Heffernan, Aungier, Dowling, Fifita, Prendergast, Oliver, Boyle.

Replacements: Delahunt, Tuimauga, Robertson-McCoy, N. Murray, Papali'i, Marmion, Farrell, Butler.

Referee: Craig Evans (WRU)