The Highlanders had dropped six players, including All Black Josh Ioane, for the match after they breached team protocols last weekend.
Sione Misiloi, Daniel Lienert-Brown, Marino Mikaele-Tu'u, Teariki Ben-Nicholas and Patelesio Tomkinson joined fullback Ioane on the sidelines.
The win came after last week's 30-19 loss to the Hurricanes, and means the Highlanders move off the bottom of the standings and into third place with only their second win so far this season.