A chance to hit the reset button had been employed by the Highlanders when the Super Rugby season was halted in its stride by the coronavirus pandemic.
With only one win on their resumé in that time, the Highlanders made the most of the chance to do a reassessment of how they had performed and what was needed when rugby resumed.
Head coach Aaron Mauger said the team appeared better-prepared coming into the second pre-season period. They had put in some background stamina work in a bid to play with intensity over a longer period.
While they still had some work to do, they were better than earlier in the season and that would be important in the New Zealand games because they would be high-intensity affairs where players couldn't afford to clock off for a moment.
Upon reflection, he felt good signs had been shown in games against the Brumbies in Canberra and the Crusaders in Christchurch.
"We still weren't at our best in Canberra but there were some good signs and we thought in the Crusaders game we had them under pressure for long periods but we just weren't good enough, and consistent enough, through that 80 minutes, but it [discussion] was building belief in those parts," he said.
There were some selection headaches for the side because there was plenty of competition in the squad for places. Mauger said the policy of playing first five-eighths Mitchell Hunt and Josh Ioane as a combination in the five-eighths was unlikely to continue when the first side was selected.
He had always seen Ioane as a first five-eighth and the position was a competition between Hunt, Ioane and Bryn Gatland.
The experiment had not been helped by the inability of the pack to provide them with the sort of ball necessary to succeed. So the emphasis would go on getting the pack firing when they return. If they succeeded it wouldn't matter who was playing at first five-eighths.
Mauger said the concept of a golden point had been discussed with New Zealand Rugby and the franchise coaches and he felt it was a great idea.
It created a spectacle and it could come down to moments that made it critical to be able to perform for 80 minutes or more.
But he hadn't heard if it had been confirmed if it would be applied to the New Zealand Aotearoa series.
Midfield back Teihorangi Walden said a lot of effort had gone in during the lockdown to address the issues that had been raised in the first half of their campaign before the lockdown, and which had seen the side record only one win.
"The coaches, management and the leadership group had some great conversations and one of the points we had to address was what had happened already.
"We had a wee session at the start of the [second] pre-season and we talked about what we needed to be better at, what we needed to keep and what is going to make us better as a team.
"That allowed us to flush everything and it was about building excitement about our attack and defence and the opportunity ahead," he said.