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The Blues are bracing from a backlash from Super 14 rugby leaders the Crusaders, whose unbeaten record came to an abrupt end last weekend.
The Crusaders were upset by the Chiefs 18-5, although the gap they have over their nearest rivals is still a sizeable six points.
From
the Blues' point of view, that result in Hamilton had its pluses and minuses, coach David Nucifora said.
It meant the Chiefs jumped two places above their near neighbours and into fifth spot.
But the manner of the Chiefs' performance, with its strong defensive effort, especially around the fringes, had been useful for game-plan purposes.
"It wasn't great for us for them to get the points, but they exposed some things in the Crusaders as well, which I thought they did very well," Nucifora said.
"But obviously the Crusaders will have their eyes back on the ball this week."
It seems a long time ago since the Blues, with their electric start to the season, topped the Super 14 table.
That was after round three and their third successive bonus-point win.
Since then, their campaign has come unstuck and they have slid to seventh place on the back of four defeats and just two victories.
After last weekend's bye, Nucifora has responded by making two personnel changes in his starting 15, dropping All Black centre Isaia Toeava and regular No 9 Danny Lee to the bench.
Winger David Smith comes into a reshuffled backline, while Taniela Moa replaces Lee as starting halfback.
The changes are aimed at adding spark to the attack, with Nucifora believing the Blues were not far off producing their best again.
"There are no poor teams in this competition and you have a very slim margin for error," he said.
"If you're only a few per cent off your best, you're going to be beaten and that's where we've been."
The match at AMI Stadium will feature some interesting match-ups, including new Crusader Ali Williams against his former team-mates.
The All Black lock quit the Blues last year after a falling out with Nucifora, and his preparations for his first meeting with his old team included wearing a Spiderman suit when fronting journalists this week.
There is also an intriguing head-to-head battle in store between Crusader Stephen Brett and his opposite number, All Black Nick Evans, at first five-eighth.
Evans said small errors across the board had been the Blues' undoing in recent weeks.
"It hasn't been individuals, it's been across the board, guys making little mistakes at the wrong time," he said.
"It's up to everybody to knuckle down and play the game like we know we can."
Evans, who was in superb touch during the Blues' winning start to the season, said he was looking to insert himself more in proceedings.
"Teams have come up with a strategy to beat us, like the rushing line and coming up fast on us," he said.
"It's up to me and the guys outside to take a bit extra depth and use the forwards around us a bit better than we've been doing."
The Blues were aware of the task in front of them, Evans said, because the Crusaders always rebounded well after a loss.
However, the Chiefs had offer some helpful pointers on how to trip up the competition leaders.
"Their loosies played well and they bullied them and beat them up," he said.
"That's something we've going to have to take with us."
Meanwhile, Crusaders centre Casey Laulala has been ruled out of the match after failing an impact test this morning.
Laulala suffered a head knock in the loss to the Chiefs and had not recovered in time. Caleb Ralph takes his place in the startling lineup.
- NZPA
