The Highlanders will face the Stormers at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Friday night, and will then fly to the Republic to take on first the Cheetahs and then the Bulls.
So it may well be the time for the Highlanders' forwards to roll up their sleeves and get ready for some hard toil.
The South African forwards are known for their physicality and tough nature. Rolling mauls dominate and the sides very rarely pass the ball to anyone with double figures on their jersey.
But Highlanders assistant coach Mark Hammett said not every team from South Africa followed that routine. The next opponent was a case in point.
The Stormers are coming off a 50-point hiding from the Crusaders but the Highlanders were expecting a much better effort this week from the Cape Town side.
``They will not be happy with their performance but a few things did not go their way. Just the way they managed to hold on to the ball - they turned some ball over when they normally wouldn't,'' he said.
``It probably could have been a different game.[The Crusaders] got a couple of intercept tries.
``We haven't really looked at that game. We're looking at what they have done in the past where they have been very strong. They are a dominating, hard-carrying team and a team which is slightly different from most South African teams in that they try to attack out of the 22m line at times.''
There is a theory that many visiting sides to these shores target one or two games on the tour and the other games are just training runs and any points which arrive are a bonus.
Hammett had heard that suggestion and as a coach does not agree with it.
He said New Zealand sides want to win every game. Targeting games led to too much pressure on players in games which mattered.
The Highlanders were coming off a 40-15 win over the Sunwolves in Invercargill, a game the side won comfortably without looking in ominous form.
``We were a bit scratchy but in areas where we trained during the week we were very good. We wanted to play within our structures and play with some intensity ... Some of it came a little unstuck.''
Loose forward Elliot Dixon was still recovering from a knee infection and was scheduled to get out of the Dunedin Hospital yesterday afternoon. His knee had become inflamed last Thursday night and he had gone to hospital the next morning.
A chance to play on Friday night was unlikely but he had not yet been formally ruled out.
Dixon had recognised the seriousness of the ``pretty bad'' infection and moved quickly to get it treated.
The Highlanders would head to Sydney on Saturday morning and would then fly to South Africa the next day.
Hammett said who would be going to South Africa was largely settled but there were a couple of places still to be decided.