Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph admits his troops, battered and bruised after a torrid and unsuccessful battle against the Super 15-leading Stormers on Saturday night, will now enjoy a week away from rugby.
"This is our 10th game, with three pre-season games. That is 10 games in 10 weeks. My view is to get the guys right away from rugby for a week and give them a real good rest, both mentally and physically," he said.
"They will have a nice week off, get away from rugby and get ready for the Blues."
The Highlanders are second in the New Zealand conference on 22 points, and fourth place overall.
Joseph said the side could not be too down after notching five wins in seven games so far this season.
"We said to ourselves going into the season if we got through the first block of games and we were five out of seven that would be our goal, and we achieved that," Joseph said.
"The disappointing thing for us was, mentally and physically, I thought we were ready for the Stormers and had prepared well."
The players disbanded yesterday, spreading far and wide, and will come back together on Sunday to start getting ready to take on the Blues on April 20, again at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
The major injury concern going into the bye is fullback Ben Smith, who left the field on Saturday night, with a concussion which occurred in the first quarter of an hour.
Smith left the field against the Crusaders on March 3 with concussion and although Joseph said he did not appear to be as badly injured as then, the head knock was a worry for a key player.
His ability to beat the man was sorely missed on Saturday night, with Hosea Gear subdued on the wing.
The Highlanders were well beaten by a superb defensive performance from the Stormers on Saturday night, and it will take a very good side to beat the Cape Town-based team.
The Highlanders were slow out of the blocks and Joseph was at a loss as to why the side did not come out firing.
"We were ready for a big game. But the first 20 minutes were a bit flat and why, I don't know.
"But the defence we came up against was a lot better than any other defence we have come up against. We wanted to put a bit of ball in behind them because they have got a very strong defensive line.
"I thought they were very good at slowing our attack... they did a hell of a job on stopping their flow. A lot of times we thought we had them, but for whatever reason the ball would be slow to be presented to the halfback."
The added bonus of having a bye next week means the Highlanders will get an automatic four points. That will help them keep pace with Chiefs, whose good run continued with a 20-12 win over the Force in Perth on Friday night.
The Cheetahs beat the Lions 26-5 in Welkom yesterday, while the Bulls moved to third overall with a 32-30 win over the Crusaders in Pretoria.
The Crusaders' effort in coming from 16 points down with nine minutes remaining was marred by eye-gouging allegations, with referee Jaco Peyper issuing white cards for further consideration of television evidence by the citing commissioner after Bulls hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle and captain Pierre Spies accused the Crusaders of eye-gouging them in a ruck.