A second-half scoring blitz against Melbourne Rebels may have rekindled the Blues' Super Rugby Pacific mojo - with more than a little help from their opponents' disintegrating front row.
After an error-riddled first half that saw them trailling at the break, the Auckland side piled on 41 unanswered points in a display that now has them riding a 54-17 win and wave of confidence into their bye week.
"We knew we had to put a good performance out there," reflected captain Dalton Papalii. "We owed it to ourselves.
"Our season has been up and down, but we knew we were there, we just needed to fix little things. In the first half, we felt like we were dominant, we just weren't getting it over the line.
"In the second half, we really opened up and that's the style of footy we want to play. It goes to show, when we're on top of our game, we can really put some damage on some teams - we just have to take that confidence and carry it on through the rest of the season."
Heavily favoured to challenge the Crusaders' dominance of the competition, the Blues have already suffered three defeats this season, including local-derby lapses against the Crusaders and Chiefs, where they had ample opportunities to win, but could not finish off their chances.
The Rebels proved the perfect opposition to break out of that funk, as their set-piece shortcomings were exposed to the maximum degree.
The seeds of their collapse were sown in the 15th minute, when hooker Alex Mafi picked up an injury and was replaced by back-up Jordan Uelese, who hobbled to the last lineout before halftime, but never re-emerged from the sheds for the second half.
Replacement prop Sam Talakai packed down in Uelese's place and 10 minutes later, the other replacement prop Matt Gibbon tapped in for starter Cabous Eloff.
Starting loosehead Pone Fa'amausili was helped off in the 64th minute, ushering Eloff back onto the field, but he was yellow-carded for collapsing a maul with 10 minutes remaining. In his absence, scrums became uncontested, backs were forced to pack down to make up numbers and the Rebels were reduced to 13 players for the closing stages.
The Blues scored two tries during that period to top 50 points.
With props throwing into lineouts - along with the loss of ballwinning lock Trevor Hosea - Melbourne's set-pieces were in total disarray and the visitors took full toll.
"It's a curse of the game," said Papalii. "There's always going to be injuries and we suffered from injuries at the beginning of the season.
"It's just the game now - it's so fast and physical, and you don't know what you're going to get during a game."
Except the Blues knew full well how to bully their shorthanded rivals, because three weeks ago, they found themselves in exactly the same predicament against the Crusaders.
Despite losing both starting props early to injury, the northerners led just before halftime, but lost a third prop to a yellow card. Forced to pack down 'Golden Oldies' scrums and drop an additional player, the Blues conceded tries on either side of the break, as momentum swung to their opponents, and they could not recover.
"We got stung by it against the Crusaders, we knew the position they were in and we knew we could take advantage of it," said Papalii. "It's tough that there are injuries in the game and I feel sorry for them, but it is what it is."
Blues coach Leon MacDonald could surely see the irony of the situation, but wasn't prepared to come down on one side or the other of the conundrum.
"It makes sense," he said. "You're trying to stop teams fudging the rules to gain an advantage, if you're under pressure, but it is tough, if you've got three legitimate injuries - or four legitimate injuries... injuries to their hookers and then their props.
"You're paying the price because you've got injuries in the same areas. They're going to be paying the price for the next 3-4 weeks, because they've got a problem now with the depth of their squad.
"It's a tough one and I'm not sure what the right answer is. It happened to us, and we weren't cheating or doing anything wrong, we just had injuries.
"I'm not sure. It's probably worth revisiting to see if it's achieving what they want from it, and is it fair and reasonable, but it's hard for me to know."
After their bye week, the Blues host NSW Waratahs at Eden Park on April 22.
Join us at 7pm Saturday for live updates of the Chiefs v Hurricanes Super Rugby Pacific clash
