The Crusaders are hoping their first win of the season against Highlanders can kickstart their Super Rugby Pacific title defence.
After a shock defeat to the Chiefs in round one, the Crusaders bounced back in emphatic style with a 52-15 victory over their South Island rivals.
Their All Blacks-laden backline were starved last week in the second half but feasted on a weakened-Highlanders outfit at Melbourne's 'Super Round'.
First-five Richie Mo'unga and second-five David Havili formed a deadly combination, as both crossed for tries, with Sevu Reece and Leicester Fainga'anuku also dotting down.
Crusaders captain Scott Barrett was pleased with his team's performance and, while not perfect, believes it's one they can build off the back on.
"Last week we were hurting, we lost physical battles and the kick duels, [but] tonight we wanted to come out and put in a performance we were proud of," he told Sky Sport post-match.
"[In] our attack, we wanted to ignite our ball runners and I think tonight we did that for the most part, it wasn't a polished performance but certainly a step in the right direction.
"We got some outside backs that are pretty rapid, so just trying to get the ball into their hands and get them a good platform to work off.
"We'll celebrate Noah [Holtham's] debut tonight, and connect with the team, and we're off to Fiji next week, and that's going to be a challenge on its own, so we'll shift our focus pretty quickly."
Meanwhile, it's déjà vu for the Highlanders, as they bemoan costly mistakes, falling to back-to-back heavy defeats.
After conceding 60 points last week, they've quickly brought up an unwanted century on defence, and stay rooted to the bottom of the Super Rugby table.
But Highlanders captain Billy Harmon is promising better from his team and believes they're not far off from putting it all together, as they chase their first win.
"Similar to last week, we're just not quite executing, we couldn't get our lineout going but we showed really good phases there on attack and defence," he told Sky Sport.
"We showed we can compete, but those little lapses that cost us, that's where we have to get better."
Harmon said his side will learn and grow.
"We back everyone in our squad and tonight was a good chance to give people a crack and they played well," he said. "We've just got to look at what we did well and just fix those areas that we didn't get quite right. It's not the end of the world, second round in, so promise we'll get better."
