Following Saturday's dusty performance, the mood at Crusaders HQ was rather subdued for a Monday afternoon.
For a team not used to losing, the feeling of being defeated must've felt odd around the camp.
While most of the Crusaders contingent of All Blacks headed away on Monday for national camp, two obvious omissions were Sam Whitelock and Ryan Crotty.
Both were helped off the field early in Wellington on Saturday after receiving head knocks.
"They are going through the normal protocols and processes to returning to play after having been ruled out with a head knock, they went through a bit of exercise today [Monday] then go to stage two tomorrow, if they get through today," assistant coach Brad Mooar said.
Tom Sanders, Mitchell Dunshea and Tim Perry started the season with injuries but have slowly been making their way back into the fold.
"There are a few players coming back too, Dunshea, Perry and Sanders all having a hit out for the Knights, our development side, on Saturday. It was great to see them get through their minutes and start on their return to play, or return to perform in the Crusader jersey," Mooar said.
Pete Samu who is also battling an injury is in contention to play on Saturday provided he comes through the week unscathed.
The Crusaders will need to tidy up the mistakes they made in Wellington if they want to beat an in-form Highlanders side.
Winger Manasa Mataele said their side's discipline let them down against the Hurricanes and they will need to fix that to beat the Highlanders.
Mataele also said they need to clean up simple errors that crept into their game last weekend.
Coach Scott Robertson is set to name his side to take on the Highlanders on Thursday ahead of Saturday nights game.