The Bulls are unbeaten at home this year, riding high on top of the South African conference and looking every inch champion contenders.
In contrast, the Highlanders are dead last on the ladder and lacking confidence and precision in every facet of play.
Only one result looked possible and that was exactly how it played out in Pretoria yesterday.
The Bulls cruised home 35-18, clinching a bonus point in the final two minutes, and rather went through the motions in the last 30 minutes. The home team led 23-6 at the break.
A watertight Bulls defence was too much for the Highlanders, who again made too many mistakes to be competitive.
The Highlanders' lack of potency on attack, coupled with the Bulls' defence, led to too many chip kicks in attacking positions from the visitors, all of them ending in a negative result.
The Bulls were far from perfect, and dropped more ball than the Highlanders, but both teams were guilty of failing to string much continuity together.
Two yellow cards to the Highlanders in the second half did not improve any slim chance of a win.
Winger Tino Nemani - who clearly shows the depth, or the lack of it, of New Zealand rugby at the moment - cooled his heels early in the second half for a high tackle, and just as his spell ended, the sideline seat was taken by prop Chris King.
King had tried to stop a rolling maul by (unsuccessfully) tackling the man at the front, and he received his marching orders from referee Jaco Peyper.
The scrums then went to golden oldies, as prop Jamie Mackintosh had left at halftime with a twisted knee.
Coach Jamie Joseph had cleared the benches by the hour mark, and some who came on - Liam Coltman, TJ Ioane and Jason Emery - surely must start the next game.
The Highlanders made a terrible start. They turned over the ball straight from the kick-off, and less than two minutes later found themselves standing behind their posts as big centre JJ Engelbrecht went over.
It looked very ominous for the Highlanders, but the Bulls' attack was not quite on song and Highlanders first five-eighth Colin Slade managed to bang over a couple of penalties.
Morne Steyn replied, and extended the lead to 10 points as the home side slowly got into its work.
The Highlanders could argue they were hard done by a TMO decision, three minutes from halftime. And it would be a pretty convincing argument.
The Highlanders spilt the ball on attack and Bulls winger Akana Ndungane ran 80m to score. But the pass to the speedster clearly went forward.
The Bulls went in to the break with plenty of confidence and, with No 8 Pierre Spies scoring just after the break, it looked like cricket score time for the Highlanders. But they stayed staunch on defence, while the Bulls were inaccurate.
The Highlanders scored their two tries in the final 10 minutes. Replacement halfback Fumiaki Tanaka sniped around the side of a ruck with eight minutes to go to score his first try at this level. Tamati Ellison scored after the final hooter, skirting down the blindside after Tanaka had made room for him.
Best for the Highlanders were flanker John Hardie and lock Brad Thorn, while Ben Smith and Ellison both ran hard.
Highlanders v Bulls
The scores
Bulls 35
JJ Engelbrecht, Akana Ndungane, Pierre Spies, Jane Vermaak tries; Morne Steyn 3 con, 3 pen
Highlanders 18
Fumiaki Tanaka, Tamati Ellison tries; Colin Slade 2 pen, Hayden Parker con.
Halftime: Bulls 23-6.
