The home team rather limped to victory and never got into top gear but did enough to win.
Both sides scored a try each in a game dominated by mistakes and plenty of wasted time at scrum time.
Highlanders 20 (Waisake Naholo try; Marty Banks 4 pen, Hayden Parker pen) Reds 13 (Jake Schatz try; James O'Connor 2 pen, con)
Halftime: 9-3 Highlanders.