Despite the lingering threat of missing out on a Four Nations final berth on points differential, New Zealand won't be focussed on trying to rack up a score against Scotland this weekend.
Heading into the final round of pool play the Kiwis are tied with England on two competition points, but trail the host nation by 30 on for and against calculations, while they sit two competition points and a considerable 53 differential points behind leaders Australia.
It means that even if they beat Scotland on Saturday morning (AEDT) it may still not be enough to see David Kidwell's side through, if England can upset Australia in their clash and maintain their differential advantage.
But New Zealand captain Jesse Bromwich said that won't change the way they approach the clash in Workington.
"We are not [focussed on] getting a margin, more turning up to play and improve on last week's match," Bromwich said.
"We are here to improve every week and if we want to do well in this competition we have to improve every week.
"We have been practicing all week on a few new things and hopefully we can put them out there."
The Bravehearts will head into the game buoyed by their positive first half against England last week, which had them leading their neighbours 8-0 before eventually falling to a 38-12 loss.
Kiwis assistant coach Justin Morgan said watching replays of that match offered up enough reasons to suggest New Zealand would encounter trouble if they entered the game with a points target in mind.
"To be brutally honest we haven't spoken about that (points differential)," Morgan said.
"I think if anybody saw the first 25 minutes between Scotland and England last week you would certainly say Scotland were the better side.
"There has certainly been no talk around the camp of winning by this amount or winning by that amount, the priority is to win.
"Scotland are a good side and they have sort of built slowly over the tournament as well.
"They have got a good level of NRL experience in their side and also some really good Super League players."
Meanwhile veteran five-eighth Thomas Leuluai identified the start of the match as the key area New Zealand will need to improve against the Bravehearts.
The Kiwis haven't scored a try inside the first 20 minutes in any of their four Tests so far this year, and made sluggish starts against both England and Australia in their previous two games.
"[Scotland] got off to a good start against England on the weekend and really put them under pressure," Leuluai said.
"We have got to match or look to out-enthuse them early and show the passion that we have for our jumper too.
"Those will be the things we are looking at early I think."
