The derby marathon behind them — with plenty of casualties and just the one win — it is hardly going to be a walk in the park this week for the Highlanders.
The side, coming off a disappointing 41-15 loss to the defending champion Hurricanes in Wellington, will on Saturday night take on the Brumbies in Canberra, a place where the Highlanders have not always produced their best performances.
The Highlanders have won just one of their first four games against the four other New Zealand sides and sit last in the New Zealand conference and, more depressingly, a distant 15th in the overall table.
Now, it is far too early to focus on the table, but there cannot be too many more losses if the side wants to be in the playoff race.
Highlanders coach Tony Brown said it was good to get the four opening games out of the way.
Obviously, the results were not what the side wanted but it simply just had to move on.
"We have been really unlucky in the decisions which have not gone our way, unlucky with all the injuries we’ve had," Brown said.
"We could have won three out of four games. We should have won two out of four games. But we have only won one so we have to move on from here," he said.
"The Brumbies are not going to be easy. But if we want to be contenders then these are the sort of games we have to win."
The Highlanders won in Canberra last year in a playoff game although it was a close-run thing.
Before that, the side had not won in the Australian capital since 2006.
The Brumbies had a convincing 28-12 win over the Waratahs in Sydney on Saturday night so will take some confidence into the match.
The one bonus the Highlanders did get out of the loss to the Hurricanes was the team picked up no new injuries.
Backs Fletcher Smith and Malakai Fekitoa, who both left the field after failing concussion tests, should be fine to play this weekend.
Expected back off the injured list and available for the game in Canberra are winger Patrick Osborne, hooker Greg Pleasants-Tate and prop Siosiua Halanukonuka.
Pleasants-Tate will be a welcome addition, having been injured in pre-season.
As for Saturday night’s loss to the Hurricanes, Brown felt his side competed well for 50 minutes and the game could have gone either way.
"Then a few things did not go our way, we made a few mistakes and that cost us. You start chasing the game and these things tend to happen," Brown said.
He said the side had chances throughout the match and just did not execute them well enough. That came down to individual errors and players getting fatigued in what was a high-paced match.
In other games over the weekend, the Chiefs beat the Rebels 27-14 in Melbourne, the Bulls downed the Sunwolves 34-21 in Pretoria, the Lions defeated the Reds 44-14 in Johannesburg, the Sharks edged the Kings 19-17 in Durban and the Jaguares beat the Cheetahs 41-14 in Buenos Aires.