The Blues played themselves back into Super 14 semifinal contention courtesy of a comprehensive 40-15 victory over the Highlanders in a highly entertaining fixture in Dunedin on Saturday.

It was the Blues of old as they showed some superb skill that was commonplace in the opening rounds of the competition.

Ex-Highlander Nick Evans was superb for the Blues, scoring two tries in a match haul of 23 points.

The five point win sees the Blues move into the coveted fourth spot on the standings, with all to play for with one game left.

It was crisp in Dunedin on Saturday night. Crisp. That is New Zealandese for very cold. The match did little to warm things up. It was a bits-and-pieces game with lots of Joe Palooka rugby, long breaks for injuries and substitutions, and then moments of thrilling brilliance. But there was little that was flowing. Phases were slow opportunities for Joe Palooka to bash without profit, but it passed the time. There were few actual stoppages but the stoppages were long and most of the play between them slow.

The Blues won easily and got their desired bonus point easily for the difference in class was great. They were also stronger in the scrums and won the turnovers, the last one producing an 85-metre try.

The victory not only keeps the Blues in with a chance of making the semifinals but also meant that they retained the Gordon Hunter Memorial Trophy.

The Blues, where white in deference to the Highlanders' blue kicked off, and attacked. Inside two minutes the Highlanders were penalised for being off-side. Nick Evans lined up the kick and the crowd booed. It was not loud booing as there was not much of a crowd. The booing was no doubt a feeling of animosity towards Evans for having been a Highlander last year. But eventually when he scored them into silence by the time he had scored 21 points and the Blues led 21-3. He was far and away the most influential player in the telling early part of the match.

The Blues then came close to a try when Rudi Wulf began a counterattack on the left. The ball went wide to the right where the television match official advised that Anthony Tuitavake had just put a left foot into touch as he went over in the corner, tackled by Paul Williams.

The Blues dominated play and Evans goaled two more penalties, one against Craig Newby for a high tackle and one against Adam Thomson when he was off-side and played the ball at a knock-on. 9-0 after 19 minutes.

Mike Delany broke past Troy Flavell with a hand-off and the Highlanders attacked. Several Blues players were penalised for being off-side at a wayward clearing kick and Delany goaled. 9-3.

The rest of the half's scoring belonged to the Blues.

The first try was unlikely looking. Evans grubbered into the Highlanders' in-goal. One would have expected an easy grounding but somehow Evans got through after the ball and with sheer speed beat Williams to the grounding. 14-3 after 26 minutes.

The Highlanders did some pick-'n-drive, the Blues were free-kicked and Jimmy Cowan tapped. He darted for the line. They Highlanders had a five-metre scrum and bashed but Thomson was free-kicked for holding on.

From a line-out Tony Woodcock peeled and charged to set the Blues on the attack. Evans, Anthony Boric and John Afoa were prominent till Afoa was given a pass. He was flat-footed but managed to surge past Clint Newland and as two Highlanders tackled him he slipped a pass to Evans on his left and the fullback accelerated over in the left corner. He converted from touch. 21-3 after 33 minutes.

Flavell won a turnover and David Smith kicked a long, bouncing kick down the left. Aaron Bancroft threw a wild pass in-field near his own line and the Highlanders, who had been attacking, yielded a five-metre scrum. The Blues lined up on the left. They won the scrum and Nick Williams flicked the ball through his legs to Taniela Moa on the left of the scrum as Wulf came racing from the right to take the pass from Moa and keep going for a try in the left corner. 26-3 after 37 minutes. That was the half time score.

The Highlanders looked a ragged and beaten lot till they came back and suddenly came to light. First they were awarded a free kick on their side of their 10-metre line and Cowan tapped and ran. He gave to Johnny Leota who broke and gave to Bancroft on his right and the centre raced for a try in the right corner. It was a splendid try of quick, incisive running and handling. Delany converted from touch. 26-10 after 52 minutes.

Three minutes later Newby broke strongly. He gave to Leota who gave to Bancroft as the Highlanders' went left. Back the ball came to Cowan who did a cross-field dither till he kicked a diagonal to his right. Thomson was there to gather the bouncing ball and score. 26-15 after 55 minutes.

The Highlanders' had scored 12 points in three minutes. Were they back in the game? The answer was a raucous No. They did not look like scoring again.

The Blues could have kicked an easy penalty but opted for a five-metre line-out. Flavell was over but held up. From the five-metre scrum Tuitavake did a scissors with Isa Nacewa who was going left. Tuitavake beat four defenders before stretching out in the tackle for a try near the posts. Evans converted. 33-15. Evans then subsided to the bench to let Ben Atiga play.

The Highlanders had two five-metre line-outs off penalties incurred by Jerome Kaino but at no stage did they look likely to score. The Blues dealt easily with them.

When Isaac Ross knocked on Moa grabbed the ball and got past feeble tackling attempts to flick inside to Nacewa who gave to Wulf. Williams brought him down near the line where Chris King so infringed that he was sent to the sin bin. After this scrums would be uncontested, but — mercifully — there was only one of these parodies.

Vainikolo had a moment of brilliance with two kicks ahead on the left but when Horton was tackled Nacewa was first there and the ball came back to the Highlanders' in uncontrolled fashion. Smith picked up and ran straight for the posts 85 metres away with a couple of swaggers en route. Atiga goaled the conversion.

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