A new approach to All Blacks rest orders has the Chiefs flying well above the rest of the Super Rugby Pacific pack, with just three weeks left before the playoffs.
After falling to their first defeat of the season - a shock upset by Queensland Reds in their last hitout - the Chiefs have welcomed back several All Blacks this week.
That's in stark contrast to Saturday's opponent and their nearest Kiwi rivals - the Hurricanes - who have made the call to rest stars Ardie Savea and Jordie Barrett for the derby.
Just three points separate the Wellington outfit, the six-time defending champion Crusaders and Blues, with teams vying for the top four to guarantee home quarter-finals.
Chiefs coach Clayton McMillan reveals how a different approach to the All Blacks rest protocol has set them up at the backend of the season.
"Not that tricky at all," he said. "We all know what we need to deal with at the beginning of the season, we put a lot of time and effort into identifying games.
"Our approach this year is to get them all out in two games, which is a different approach from what we did in previous years, where we scattered them.
"Most of the players are going to have to have at least two breaks over the course of the season, over and above the bye week, so,instead of spreading the All Blacks out over 3-4 games, we just elected to do it in two - the Drua earlier on and the Reds last week.
"It was either last week or this week, and it wasn't any reflection of the quality we thought the Reds were going to bring to the table, but we just thought the team would be good enough to get the job done."
While the Chiefs only have Anton Lienert-Brown to miss another week on All Blacks rest protocol, it's a different story for the Hurricanes.
McMillan sympathises with their predicament, but expects a tough challenge from the undermanned Wellingtonians nonetheless.
"They're in the same boat as us, they have to pick an opposition to rest some guys and that's what we all have to do," he said. "Given the run that they've got, it was always going to be intriguing to see which game that was.
"It doesn't change anything for us. They put 23 guys out there in whatever colour jersey they wear and that's the Hurricanes, and we're preparing for that.
"There's an element of strategy that's involved in that sort of stuff and losing to the Reds last week, it sucked because we lost, but the positive was that one of the teams that are around us didn't take those points off of us.
"If you're the Hurricanes and you're deciding what game to give your All Blacks a rest, you need to factor those sorts of things into your decisionmaking.
"We're probably enough ahead that it becomes a case of where you're going to hedge your bets - it's a game of chess."
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