The Blues notched their third win of the Super 14 season on Friday night, trouncing a toothless Cheetahs 46-12 in Auckland.

It was the 1,000th Super rugby match since the competition began in 1996 but the Cheetahs, lacking cohesion and imagination, failed to contribute to the celebration in a six tries to two belting.

The game descended into a farce once the Cheetahs lost their whole starting front row to injury in the course of the match and the scrums were declared uncontested for safety reasons from early in the second half.

Ali Williams, playing his first match for the Blues since 2007, had an inspirational game in the lineouts, dominating his own takes and disrupting the oppositions' in concert with Kurtis Haiu.

Halfback Taniela Moa was a powerful force from the base of the scrum and worked well with Jimmy Gopperth to run the show.

Leading 7-0 after an Anthony Tuitavake try, the Blues took advantage of a 14-man opposition to rack up another 10 points after Cheetahs flanker Wayne van Heerden was sinbinned for an early spoiling tackle.

A converted try to flanker Chris Lowery following a Gopperth penalty put the Blues out to 17-0 before van Heerden returned.

The Cheetahs replied with an opportunistic try through centre Corne Uys, but Gopperth nailed a long range penalty on the stroke of halftime to give the Blues a 20-7 lead.

Two tries in quick succession after the break to fullback Isaia Toeava followed by the bonus-pointer to Moa sealed the result for the Blues.

Jamie Helleur and Chris Smylie came on as substitutes and scored the Aucklanders' other two tries.

The Cheetahs scored a consolation unconverted try to substitute Kabamba Floors on the final hooter - but are still looking for their first away win in Super rugby history.

"We definitely picked it up this week," Blues captain Keven Mealamu said.

"It's great to get six tries and five points is awesome. There were quite a few signs we are going in the right direction and so we just have to keep building over the next couple of games."

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