Coughing up intercept tries has proved a killer for the Blues this season and they'll look to clamp down on their generosity against Super 14 rugby leaders the Bulls in Auckland tomorrow.
The Blues go into their first match against South African opposition this year with a 3-3 win-loss record, with each of their defeats turning on a intercept.
Hurricane Hosea Gear, Crusader Ryan Crotty and Waratah Lachie Turner have all made the Blues pay for passes that have failed to find their mark.
Turner's late long-range try from a pass by interchange halfback Taniela Moa ended a Blues' fightback that had started from 7-21 down and sealed a 39-32 win for the Waratahs last weekend.
Skipper Keven Mealamu said his players could draw plenty of positives from their performance in Sydney, but he lamented the gifting of points to the opposition.
"When you look at the three losses, they've all come down to intercepts, which means we've been pretty much in the contest, but an error at a crucial time has cost us the game," he said.
"We just have to have a bit more steel, a bit more grit in the latter stages, and be a bit smarter and look after the ball."
The Bulls, who are also the defending champions, are the only unbeaten side in the competition and are on a 12-match winning streak going back to last April, when they went down to the Brumbies in Canberra.
To maintain that run, however, they will have to break a drought that has existed since the start of Super rugby in 1996.
The Bulls have failed to beat the Blues in New Zealand in eight attempts, although they came close last time they visited, going down 21-23 in 2008.
It's been a different story for the Pretoria-based at home, where they have lost just once to the Blues and overwhelmed them 59-26 in their last meeting at Loftus Versfeld.
For Mealamu, that result has been consigned to history.
"This year is a new start for us and we're also very passionate about playing at home," he said. "We'll definitely be up for this match."
A major talking point ahead of the match at Eden Park is how the Blues are going to combat one of the Bulls' big weapons, the rolling maul.
Mealamu believed the key was to attack it at its source and, if the maul did form, to counter it as a unit.
"You need to make sure that every forward is committed to that," he said. "But if you can disrupt the lineout, that's probably the best way to kill it."
That might be easier said than done, however, with the Bulls' skipper being lineout supremo Victor Matfield.
Mealamu had plenty of admiration for the mauling ability of the South African sides and believed it was a part of the game that New Zealand teams could develop.
"It's probably something we've left out of New Zealand rugby as the game has evolved here," he said. "It would be awesome to add it to the arsenal. It builds a different dimension to the game as well."
