Tevita Li scored two tries as he capitalised on the dominance of a Highlanders' pack led by a rampaging Jackson Hemopo to help the visitors to a commanding victory over the Sunwolves in Tokyo on Friday.

The visiting team's forwards obliterated the Sunwolves' scrum at will, even after they had replaced their entire front row, and dominated the contact area to force errors, moving back into playoffs contention in fifth place overall on 23 points.

The Highlanders scored five tries in the first half from Tom Franklin, Tyrel Lomax, Li, Josh Ioane and Liam Coltman to give them a 33-0 lead at the break.

Li grabbed his second try about 10 minutes into the second half before Rob Thompson and Sio Tomkinson also crossed, while the home side were unlucky to have a Semisi Masirewa try ruled out for a forward pass.