That is one of the early questions for a week in which the Highlanders simply must rediscover their ability to win a game lest their season grind to a premature halt.
They slipped to eighth in Super Rugby Pacific with a 2-5 record after completing a rather deflating whitewash against the four Australian teams with a 29-20 loss to the Force in Perth on Saturday night.
Defeat against the Drua, given there are games to come against the table-topping Chiefs and the second-placed Crusaders (twice each), resurgent Moana Pasifika and the Hurricanes, will leave supporters less concerned with whether a playoff spot is possible than if the wooden spoon is in play.
The Highlanders might need to do some lateral thinking in a key position, too.
Both specialist No 8s, co-captain Hugh Renton (groin) and Nikora Broughton (rib), have been out of action, and were last week listed as being one to two weeks away from returning.
Regular flanker Sean Withy has filled in at No 8 in the past two games but seems likely to be sitting out the Drua game and potentially another one or two.
Withy was sent off — his yellow was upgraded to a red after review — in the 48th minute of the game against the Force.
He slid in to attempt to stop Force winger Harry Potter scoring a try but accidentally clobbered Potter in the head with a knee.
"The try was quite a soft try," Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph said.
"It was a defensive error, a lapse of concentration by one player.
"Sean was desperately trying to effect a bit of change there but his accuracy was poor and he paid the price.
"When a player pays the price, the team ultimately pays the price."
Withy is as far from a dirty player as it gets but the clumsy action led to him being charged with dangerous play, and he was appearing in front of the foul play review committee last night.
His disciplinary record is relatively good — though he did cop a three-game ban for a dangerous tackle while playing an NPC game for Otago in 2021 — and there was clearly no malicious intent in his action, but it involved the head, and the Highlanders will be braced for losing his services.
If Withy is suspended, and Renton and Broughton remain sidelined, the Highlanders will need to get really creative at No 8.
Ironically, two Highlanders opposed each other at No 8 in Dunedin club rugby at the weekend.
Oliver Haig, making a welcome comeback from a foot injury, started for Green Island, and little-sighted squad member Hayden Michaels was at the back of the scrum for Kaikorai.
Haig is really a blindside flanker who covers lock, and Michaels is a specialist openside with 12 minutes of Super Rugby experience to his name, so it seems unlikely either will be thrust into the Highlanders No 8 jersey against the Drua.
Other options could be TK Howden, versatile Michael Loft, the Taranaki man who was a replacement player and has come off the bench the past two weeks, or youngster Will Stodart, who packed down at No 8 after Withy was binned in Perth.
There might also be some concern over backline star Timoci Tavatavanawai.
The bustling second five left the Force game for a spell for an HIA. While he passed that, and returned to action, Joseph later referred to the co-captain being concussed.
One bright spot for the Highlanders is the imminent return of fullback Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens, who made his comeback from a serious neck injury with a run in club rugby for Taieri on Saturday.
