Skipper Liam Messam is backing his pack to match the Bulls up front in Hamilton tomorrow night, even if the Chiefs don't adopt the exact same game plan that worked last week against the Super 14 champions.
The Bulls are backing up from a 32-17 defeat to the Blues, who outpointed them in the forward exchanges to end the South Africans' 12-match winning streak.
Messam, standing in as captain for Mils Muliaina, whose season ended with a broken thumb in the 27-21 victory over the Highlanders last Saturday night, said there were lessons in the Blues' performance.
"I thought the Blues played awesome against the Bulls," the blindside flanker said. "They got stuck into them. They were physical in the contact area and we're looking to do that on Friday night."
While the Chiefs' scrum had problems against the Highlanders, Messam believed they would get a lift from their improvement in the second spell.
"It was a pleasing thing to see that the young guys in the front row were sorting their problems out on the field," he said.
"I think they can take a lot of confidence going in against the Bulls."
Messam said the last meeting between the two sides hadn't been talked about in the lead-up this week.
"No, not really - it's more the media saying a lot about last year's final and how we went," he said of the 61-17 result in Pretoria. This week is a chance to get stuck into these guys like the Blues did."
While the Blues did offer some pointers on how to combat the Bulls, coach Ian Foster suggested the the Chiefs' approach might vary slightly.
"The Blues have got some strengths in their team and they played well to those strengths," he said.
"We are probably a little bit of a different make-up. Probably our pack is in a little bit of a different phase then the Blues are at. We're going to come up with some slightly different ways, but we will learn a few lessons from looking at that game."
Foster's options in the forwards have been constrained by the unavailability of the likes of Kevin O'Neill, Aled de Malmanche, Nathan White and James McGougan, the first of which was not likely to be back for another two weeks.
The Chiefs are seeking their first win in Hamilton this season after two losses in their main home base, and Foster wanted his players to show greater accuracy, citing too much turnover ball and not enough linebreaks finished off against the Highlanders.
In Muliaina's absence and with fellow All Black Sitiveni Sivivatu sidelined with a knee injury for another week, Foster has plump for rookie Tim Nanai-Williams, 20, in the No 15 jersey.
Utility Mike Delany, who filled in at the back when Muliaina was rested for the first three rounds, is retained at first five-eighth, where he impressed last weekend.
While Nanai-Williams can expect to be targeted by the opposition kickers, Foster didn't rate the upcoming match as the biggest challenge of the specialist fullback's short career.
Making his debut again the Sharks in the Durban rain in round one, when he started in the unfamiliar position of winger, was probably a tougher ask.
"He learnt a lot from that experience and he's shown that he's got a good skill set," Foster said. "But clearly, when you're starting at fullback, you're going to be put under a bit of pressure."
