Rutledge said the team had gone from one with having nothing to lose at the start of the season to now having something to play for.
"We've got the points in the bag now so we can't blow stuff. We had a meeting earlier this week and we just said that we should never change the way we play. We just need to execute better, and keep playing for the full 80 minutes."
Rutledge said the set piece would be important tonight and he was happy with how it was proceeding. The scrum was an area in which the side had let itself down a bit although it was improving, while the lineout was working well.
"That is probably why we have been going so well. Our lineout is one of the top lineouts in the competition and our scrum has been winning our ball, and with Nasi [No 8 Nasi Manu] going off the back he gets some good yards.
"Against the Crusaders he got some good yards and that put them under pressure."
The Chiefs had travelled back from South Africa this week and the Southland rake thought it may have an impact on them.
"When we came back [from South Africa] we said it was not an issue. But certainly it's a long way to travel; you get home and see your family and stuff and maybe you do go off the boil a bit."
The Highlanders had to focus on their own game first.
"Maybe our problem over the last few games is we have not played the first 40 minutes as well as we would have liked to.
"We don't need to wait until halftime for Jamie to give us a rev-up. We don't need to sit back and wait for someone like Thommo [Adam Thomson] and Bender [Ben Smith] to do something special.
Rutledge felt his form was just average and needed to improve as "this is the part of the season where the good players stand up and make a statement".
