After two wins from two starts, the Blues now face their toughest test of the Super Rugby Aotearoa season with a home game against the Crusaders at Eden Park on Sunday.
Beating the Highlanders 39-17, and getting their hands on the Gordon Hunter Memorial Trophy again, the Blues were unaffected by their lockdown bye week.
Coach Leon MacDonald said: "We knew the importance of the game, and knew how tough the Highlanders were going to be. We remember this time last year how we came very close to letting this one slip.
"To be able to be really clinical, and fight our way through the way we did today was really pleasing," he said.
The Highlanders had started with positive intent in their stated desire to move the bigger Blues pack around but were unable to sustain pressure due to self-inflicted ball retention issues.
But MacDonald felt the Blues appeared to settle into their defence well, and they seemed more secure as they got into their game.
MacDonald felt the Blues could play the high-tempo type of game, although with more restriction on their instincts that had limited their results in earlier years.
But against the Highlanders, they felt they had more of an edge up-front and wanted to hold the ball there to grind them down before releasing the ball for their backs.
At a crucial stage of the first half, the Highlanders almost went further behind than the 3-17 halftime deficit when the Blues turned over Highlanders ball on their goal-line and went the length of the field to claim a sensational try for centre Rieko Ioane, who ran onto a long infield pass from No8, and brother, Akira Ioane.
However, a call of a forward pass was made when the Akira pass was checked by the TMO.
MacDonald said: "For me, Aki [Akira Ioane] was able to stay in front of the ball, and it looked pretty good out of the hands.
"I spoke to the TV people out there after the game. There is a lot of science out there, and there might be a visual, or graphic, or something, that somebody a lot brainier than me might be able to come up with that is more consistent because these inconsistencies are what's frustrating.
"When you're running full speed like Aki was, and you let rip, the ball is always going to travel forward. That's just physics. I did listen a little bit at school.
"So, just looking at the start point, and finish point, is not the way to look at it. It's up for debate. It's what will be talked about in the pubs and bar stools tonight, I'm assuming, and something the refs will be talking about too," he said.
In a closer game, and, in the Blues past, it was something that could have upset the side and the rhythm of their game, but there was no effect this time.
"It didn't cost us, but you want to be getting those [calls] right. We were able to bounce back on a few calls and able to bounce back after a few mistakes where we got things wrong," MacDonald said.
"The TMO is always going to be a contentious one because you can always find something, somewhere, if you go looking. As a referee how far in do you keep looking for stuff, and how far do you try to stay out of the game?
"We all love a game when the referees don't feature and yet the TMO is another layer of refereeing. We want the right calls, but we don't want to pay the price for it I suppose, which is a lot of stoppages.
That reflected the way the side had grown its on-field leadership, and off the field as well because it was the leadership group who had set up their preparation during the week for the game.