The Highlanders were smarter and slicker and appeared to enjoy the clinical business of dissecting a Blues side they had patiently studied and reached fixed ideas about.
Strategically, the Highlanders were light years ahead in the first half. They were prepared to be patient, soak up the pressure and then pass and run to space to hit the Blues on the counter attack.
Their awareness and speed across the park was in a different league - epitomised best when Aaron Smith was already on the mark for a free kick before it was given and in the blink of an eye, two passes later Malakai Fekitoa had stepped and barged over to give the Highlanders a 24-0 half-time lead that looked unassailable.
And it looked unassailable because the Blues were all over the place. They had kicked the skin off the ball for the first 30 minutes and it had got them nowhere. Ben Smith mopped up everything and the Highlanders controlled the game each time they had the ball.
Then there was a painful 10 minute period in the first half when the Blues managed to claw their way back to dominate territory and possession. They strung phases together, popped out the tackle and created space and momentum. But with a five man overlap, Daniel Bowden nudged a kick over the top. It wasn't the right option, but still, it should have yielded a try but for the most outrageous bounce.
A minute later and Jamison Gibson-Park should have touched the ball on the base of the post but instead he threw the pass perhaps Bowden should have, but it was wild and bounced into touch.
If there was a bright side to all that - the Blues at least realised they needed to be direct and tighter with the ball. The wider the Blues went the less shape they had.
Where they enjoyed success was carrying hard and straight up the middle. When they used Jerome Kaino, Charlie Faumuina and the hugely powerful Patrick Tuipulotu to bang hard near the fringes - they went forward. When they used George Moala to do much the same, they went further forward and three tries came quickly in the second half.
But the comeback died when the Blues backed off keeping the ball in hand. They fell back into the trap of kicking too much and letting the Highlanders control the pace again.
Defeat effectively killed even the tiny chance the Blues had of making the playoffs and how the Blues coaching staff must have winced doubly hard when so much damage was inflicted by Fekitoa and Waisake Naholo. Both men were with the Blues in 2013 but the decision was made neither was up to it.
Who knows why they reached that view but both looked fairly deadly and absolutely up to it when they combined neatly time and again and carved up the Blues.
Naholo in particular has been almost unrecognisable this year and was the man the Blues struggled with most. He came off his wing to great effect and was about impossible for anyone to put down first up.
That power, pace and elusiveness is what wins games and it was Naholo who created the first try when he skipped past Dan Bowden, straightened and then timed his pass to Fekitoa perfectly.
Highlanders 30 (M. Fekitoa (2), W. Naholo tries; L. Sopoaga 3 cons, 3 pens)
Blues 24 (G. Moala, P. Tuipulotu, K. Mealamu (2) tries; D. Bowden con; pens; I. West con)
