And they showed their now-customary courage to cling on to the game midway through the first half when it was in danger of being curtains for them. They had to show just as much courage again when they were reduced to 14 men as a result of Jamison Gibson-Park's yellow card for a cynical foul just minutes after he came on.
More encouraging still, was the performance of Akira Ioane who might just be a seriously good player - as could Blake Gibson who also enjoyed a promising 20 minutes.
But, like always, when the final whistle was blown, the Blues had been well cooked. They left Christchurch with the familiar zero points and a little less confidence and belief than when they arrived.
For all that - they scored a couple of nice tries and dug in pretty well - defeat is still defeat and no one ever enjoys it or feels better about life as a result.
So the nightmare continued and it continued because the Crusaders, maybe predictably, lifted their game after a couple of duff weeks.
The urgency which was so badly missing last week against the Chiefs was on show.
Richie McCaw, who went off after a nasty head knock, Kieran Read, Sam Whitelock and Owen Franks all cranked up to fourth gear. There was more pace, accuracy and intent in everything they did and the Blues without Jerome Kaino just didn't have enough about them to deal with that sort of onslaught.
The Crusaders were smarter and more effective at working the massive Nemani Nadolo into the game and the big Fijian lifted his own performance, too.
He showed a surprising range of skills and great awareness and vision to twice use himself as the decoy and offload softly to alternative runners.
It wasn't a definitive statement from the Crusaders by any means but they did enough to at least get everyone off their case for a bit.
They did enough to get five points and steady their nerves and foster belief they can mount a charge to the playoffs.
When they look back, they will surely conclude they were guilty in the first half of kicking too much ball, although their bigger sin was they kicked too much ball badly.
There wasn't much in the way of sophistication or artistry to their strategy. There were long games of force-back and, when the intention was to make the ball contestable, nine times out of 10 there was too much distance on the kick.
Why the Crusaders kicked so much was a mystery. They scored two tries in the first 10 minutes, both coming from the speed of their passing and width of movement.
When they ran straight and hard, held the Blues defence and then released the strike runner, they were deadly. If only they had kept their shape and desire and who knows?
The Blues could have been all but done by the break.
Crusaders 29 (M. Drummond, J. Taufua, T. Taylor, C. Taylor tries; C. Slade 3 cons, pen) Blues 15 (F. Saili, B. O'Connor tries; D. Bowden con, pens). Halftime: 14-10.
