At least the Queensland Reds and NSW Waratahs know exactly what not to do after meek final-round Super Rugby Pacific losses left them stumbling into the quarter-finals with history stacked against them.
It was a bleak final day of regular-season action for Australian sides on Saturday as the Reds were trampled by the Drua in Fiji, the Waratahs were upset by previously-winless Moana Pasifika in Sydney and then the Western Force were humbled by the understrength Chiefs in Perth.
The Force's 43-19 loss was the most costly, Simon Cron's side missing the chance to bump the Reds out of the eight and secure a maiden finals foray.
But, like the Reds hours earlier in Fiji and the NSW Waratahs in between, they were blown out of the water.
It leaves the Waratahs up against the third-placed Blues at Eden Park on Friday, the Reds travelling to Hamilton to face the top-ranked Chiefs on Saturday and the fourth-placed Brumbies hosting the fifth-placed Hurricanes in Canberra in knock-out quarter-finals.
To move onto the semi-finals the Reds and Waratahs will have to do something no Australian Super franchise has done and win a play-off game in New Zealand.
Reds co-captain Tate McDermott stayed up late in Suva after the side's 41-17 capitulation to the Drua to discover his team's fate.
"(We) just crawled in," he said on Sunday.
Until last month the Reds hadn't won a game in New Zealand for 10 years. But a huge upset of the Chiefs, albeit in New Plymouth, corrected that record to offer some hope.
"It's going to be a completely different game and different side to the one we came across," McDermott said.
"It's a clean slate for both teams. If we take that mindset over it works in our favour but we can't get ahead of ourselves
"We're going to need a hell of a lot more than what we brought (against the Drua). Our set piece has got to be better ... and you've got to kick well."
Waratahs coach Darren Coleman sounded just like McDermott after his team's 33-24 loss in Michael Hooper's last home game.
"My job is to lick my wounds and then figure out how I’m going to get us out of it and get going," he said.
The Tahs have won only once at Eden Park in 14 Super Rugby meetings since 1998, they leak an average of 35 points against the Blues in New Zealand and are riding an eight-match losing streak against the Auckland outfit stretching back to 2015.
"There’s no doubt we’ll have to be at or very near our best and we’ll have to have an incredible amount of effort and hustle and physicality to stay in it," Coleman said.
"We’ve put too much work in for the last eight months to fly the white flag."
The Hurricanes warmed up for their Canberra trip with a return-to-form win over the second-placed Crusaders.
And even if the Brumbies knock them off they're facing a trip across the Tasman for a semi-final, unless any two of the Reds, Waratahs and Drua - who play the Crusaders - manage upsets.
For the Force it's back to the drawing board after a frustrating near-miss.
"It doesn't come down to this game," Cron said.
"We should have taken care of it before now ... we need to jump start our rugby brains."
SUPER RUGBY QUARTER-FINALS
* Blues (3rd) v Waratahs (6th), Eden Park, Auckland on Friday
* Chiefs (1st) v Reds (8th), FMG Stadium, Hamilton on Saturday
* Crusaders (2nd) v Drua (7th), Orangetheory Stadium, Christchurch on Saturday
* Brumbies (4th) v Hurricanes (5th), GIA Stadium, Canberra on Saturday
