In what was probably expected to be a sloppy first hit out for both teams at full strength, it ended up quite the opposite. It was a fast, physical and riveting match that would have dared some Highlanders fans to start thinking playoffs already.
Brad Thorn, Jared Hoeata and Nasi Manu set the tone early for the Landers with their physical, bone crunching defence.
All three men never took a backward step which allowed the rest of the forward pack to put pressure on the Blues.
The first try to Aaron Smith was a result of this pressure as he raced through the ruck to charge an average Chris Noakes kick, re-gather and score in the corner.
The Blues looked sloppy in the first half. Pushing passes that didn't need to be pushed, missing standard tackles and giving away soft penalties while in attacking positions.
On the other side of the coin the Highlanders looked magnificent.
Solid defence and outstanding attack had them up 24-0 at halftime.
Malakai Fekitoa scored from a brilliant individual effort that started behind halfway courtesy of a Liam Coltman turnover. With nothing on, he sized up a hole in the defence and busted through two tacklers and stepped another two to score next to the posts.
Fekitoa's try had to be the early front runner for try of the season, however he was outdone by Francis Saili who just after halftime broke the Highlanders defence, chipped, re-gathered while in the air and dusted a couple of would be tacklers to kick start at Blues comeback attempt.
While they plugged away at the 24 point deficit (winning the second half 21 - 5) the Blues were never going to win this game after Patrick Osborne scored in the corner. The Highlanders defended solidly for the last 25 minutes and earned the respect of a few teams in the comp I am sure.
Benji Marshall was injected into the match for the final 20 minutes at fullback, but it seemed like he had a licence to roam.
He popped up everywhere, had a lot of touches and even managed to show us his trademark flick pass to set up the second try for the Blues.
While he looked nervous sitting on the bench, his debut game in union wasn't a bad one at all.
While it is very early days, the Highlanders sit on top of the New Zealand franchise table, a place which is not beyond them come the seasons close if they can continue to impress as they did against the Blues.
Karl Tily
Twitter - @Gldf1sh
