Super Rugby is making a huge push to speed up the game, and officials are cracking down down on the time it takes teams to form set pieces and kick goals.
The Highlanders found themselves scrambling to beat the clock a couple of times in their opening-round loss to the Waratahs in Sydney.
"I think we found out the hard way when the ball got kicked and we were looking for the ball," Joseph said.
"So we’ll be a little bit better prepared than that.
"For the kickers and their process, it’s tough, eh. But it’s the way it is and we’ve just got to adapt.
"I don’t think it’ll be a problem this week. We’ve got to take responsibility for that. We just got caught with our pants down for the first couple."
The opening Super Rugby round suggested the law tweaks were having an immediate effect.
There were shades of the competitions’s heyday in the late 1990s as games featured plenty of action and tries at a breakneck pace.
Joseph, who first coached the Highlanders from 2011 to 2016, has a slightly different take.
"I feel the game is a lot more physical than it was perhaps eight years ago when I was back here.
"Bigger men, bigger bodies ... players are a lot fitter and obviously a lot bigger so that sort of lends itself towards a lot of collision injuries."
Joseph knows the Blues will mean business tonight.
The defending champions were upset by the Chiefs at their Eden Park fortress last weekend and will not fancy going 0-2 to start their title defence.
"The way they play the game is very physical," he said.
"They’re very prescribed, if you like, and use their forwards very well, and then they’ve got a backline of All Blacks. So there’s plenty of threats everywhere.
"I feel that if we can match them up front then we’ve got a good opportunity, and if we don’t then it’s going to be a long night.
"Playing at home is a great opportunity for us to establish with our fans the kind of rugby that we want to play.
"We’ve got to make sure that we play the best team in the competition with the same intent and certainly the same passion that we played the Waratahs."
