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The crucial mid-team axis - the No 8, halfback and first five-eighths combination - has undergone more surgery as the Blues search for some magic to finish the South African leg of the Super 14 journey.
Two changes were inevitable, as All Black loose forward Jerome Kaino and
regular halfback Taniela Moa rejoined the squad to face the Stormers after their paternity leave, while Tasesa Lavea has claimed the revolving playmaker role.
The squad's third new father, Joe Rokocoko, has slipped on to the wing as impressive newcomer Rene Ranger has exited with an eye-socket injury and a one-match ban for a reckless tackle in the heavy loss to the Bulls.
Coach Pat Lam claimed the first five-eighths selection remained a "neck-and-neck" tussle between Lavea and Jimmy Gopperth and that was why he continued to rotate the two.
There is no place, though, for Gopperth on the bench, where his versatility has been overlooked in favour of the similar talents of Michael Hobbs.
The rearrangements brought on by the influx of senior players means no room for Chris Lowrey, whose workrate, skills and lack of mistakes have been noticeable in the side's opening two matches.
However, Lowrey may be called on to start the final tour game against the Stormers in Cape Town because lock Kurtis Haiu has not yet been cleared after a head clash against the Bulls.
The Bulls gored the Blues 59-26 but Lam said the side's confidence had not taken a dip after that result.
"We did a good review, there was some good stuff and the competition is not lost in that one game," he said.
The arrival of the new dads and the recall of other experienced players should give the side a lift against a Stormers side who carried a similar win/loss record to start this campaign.
Many of the Blues had not played at altitude before and that experience last week at Pretoria had been an eye-opener. The Bulls were also masters in playing on their own patch and some of those nuances would not be lost on the Blues if they returned to play next season on the high veld.
This weekend the challenges will be different. The heat in Cape Town is around the 40C mark and the Stormers have an array of Springbok talent, including captain Jean de Villiers, Schalk Burger, Luke Watson and Ricky Januarie.
Lam acknowledged there were areas which had to improve. Too often last week the back three had been isolated, while the Blues had not attacked the collisions in numbers and had conceded too many soft tries.
However, the back three had also shown their attacking venom and the scrum had ramped up their impact since the initial victory against the Force. The flankers had dropped off the scrum too much in that match and with the problem resolved, the impact had been better against the Bulls. It needed to continue this weekend if the Blues wanted to celebrate the 100th Super match for flanker Justin Collins.
