The prospect of a second chance was their motivation and second five-eighths Ngani Laumape, whose signing with French club Stade Francais was announced on Monday, said he had paid more attention to the Australian competition over the last few weeks and the quality of the play had been impressive.
"I respect the Aussie competition a lot and I'm pretty nervous for this weekend. I know it's going to be a good one," he said.
The Australian sides would be as excited as the New Zealand teams about resuming their rivalries, while the Hurricanes had an extra incentive to make up for their Super Rugby Aotearoa showing.
"We get another shot at redemption," Laumape said.
"It felt like, in the last couple of weeks of Aotearoa, we were finding our rhythm, and it's awesome to see the likes of [first five-eighths] Reuben Love and [halfback] Luke Campbell finding their feet in Super Rugby Aotearoa.
"It was a tough comp, and it was their first season, and I feel that combination is working well."
Laumape said he enjoyed competing with Love in their training, and he felt he was a better player because of it. He also saw the sky as the limit for Love in the game.
"He's 19-years-old and running the Hurricanes team and it's just a credit to him," he said.
"I'm excited to be part of that journey and look to competing with him.
"As a team collective we have to turn up and everyone has to play their role for this weekend. We can build confidence from the last couple of weeks and I'm excited," he said.
Laumape said he didn't think the pre-Covid lack of success for Australian teams against their New Zealand counterparts would continue. He was nervous about the challenge and felt it was the New Zealand teams who were under pressure.
Assistant coach Tyler Bleyendaal said it was an exciting opportunity to play the Australian sides.
"It's another game for us to express ourselves and improve from what we've done in [Super Rugby] Aotearoa," he said.
"We know they can play good footy, and they lost a few games by small margins, just like us. We think we've got a lot to offer, and they do too. It's going to be a pretty exciting battle at the weekend, and one we're really looking forward to," he said.
While they had been disappointed with their Super Rugby Aotearoa season, Bleyendaal said there had been enough glimpses of how they could play, and it would be a case of attempting to achieve that for 80 minutes in games.
"That's our challenge, to play to our potential, and that's been our focus," he said.