Highlanders

The eight-try romp saw wing Tevita Li, fullback Patrick Osborne and his replacement Rob Thompson (two), flank Dillon Hunt and centre Richard Buckman also cross the line.

The Highlanders have now moved 10 points clear of the Blues in the fourth playoff spot in the New Zealand Conference after 12 matches, significantly boosting their chances of making the knockout stages.

The victory is the eighth in succession for the 2015 Super Rugby champions, who had started the campaign miserably with three defeats in their opening four games.

Smith has started every game for the Highlanders this season but Kane Hammington will pull on the number nine jersey to help manage the All Black halfback's workload in the lead up to the British and Irish Lions Series next month.

First five Lima Sopoaga will play his first match in more than two months after recovering from a hamstring injury.

The 26-year-old will start from the bench.

Returning to the starting line up are All Blacks hooker Liam Coltman and winger Tevita Li, who replaces the suspended Waisake Naholo.

Both sides finished with 14 players in conditions that stifled running rugby as the Highlanders extended their winning run to seven matches, while the Bulls' play-off hopes now look ever more remote.

Fullback Matt Faddes scored the opening try for the visitors, who had to play the final 16 minutes a man down after a red card for wing Waisake Naholo for a reckless tackle with the game evenly poised at 10-10.

All Blacks winger Waisake Naholo crossed after the fulltime whistle, sparking scenes of jubilation from the visiting team.

They had looked buried when the Cheetahs ran in three quick tries of their own midway through the second spell to lead 41-24.

However, reserve winger Tevita Li, fullback Matt Faddes and Naholo - who bagged two tries - capitalised on a Cheetahs defence, reduced to 14 men following a yellow card shown to Uzair Cassiem.

Sopoaga, one of a bunch of All Blacks under an injury cloud ahead of the looming British and Irish Lions tour, hasn't played since pinging a hamstring against the Blues in round three. 

The 26-year-old was initially given a six-eight week prognosis, and Highlanders coach Tony Brown was last week hopeful the pivot would return against the Bulls in Pretoria Sunday week (NZT). 

However, speaking from Bloemfontein on Thursday morning , Brown said Sopoaga was still "at least" two weeks away. 

The final result was never in doubt, although the Highlanders looked rusty coming off the bye and weren't always convincing, particularly in the first half.

Their scrum was generally efficient and the set piece solid despite the absence of All Blacks flanker Elliot Dixon, ruled out late by a knee infection.

It took just four minutes for the Highlanders to punish the Sunwolves' slow start, the visitors' poor handling gifting plenty of early possession.

The dynamic 12-test All Blacks winger, along with first-five-eighth Lima Sopoaga, were both injured against the Blues at Eden Park in Super Rugby round three on March 11.

Fast forward more than a month and Naholo is back in training after recovering from his hamstring injury and is in contention to be named later this week to take the field for the Highlanders after playing 40 minutes of club rugby in Taranaki for Spotswood United.

Sopoaga is still doing his recovery and performance programme and is likely to be considered for selection in two weeks. 

Trailing 20-13 at halftime, the vastly-improved hosts slowly wrestled control of a clash between the two bottom-placed teams in the New Zealand Conference and retained the Gordon Hunter Memorial Trophy.

One of the few highlights of a scoreless second half for the Blues was the debut of cross code star Sonny Bill Williams, ending eight months out of rugby after rupturing his Achilles tendon at the Rio Olympics.

All Blacks midfield back Williams made one lightning break and offload but otherwise had little impact as the Highlanders dominated the closing stages.

Alluvial gold buying, the betelnut trade and even church crusades have been bringing people in and some of them haven’t returned home yet.

The islanders are fearful that a settlement might bloom on Bougainville, just like in the other provinces of Papua New Guinea.

Bougainville hardliners recently held an awareness at Arawa market on the subject. They talked about many outsiders (redskins) coming into Arawa and Bougainville for an event, and are still here long after the completion of their activities.