For the fourth straight year, the Brumbies have saved Australian rugby’s blushes.

After Les Kiss’ Queensland Reds crashed out on Friday night to join the Waratahs and Force in the scrap heap, the Brumbies needed to win in Saturday’s third qualifying final to progress to the last four – and they did, beating the Hurricanes 35-28 in a brilliant contest in Canberra.

Now, their reward is a trip to Hamilton to take on the Chiefs next Saturday, who earlier slipped up against the Blues but got out of jail after topping the regular season. Should Stephen Larkham’s Brumbies win, they’ll become the first Australian side to win a finals match on New Zealand soil.

Despite the do-or-die nature of the game, the Brumbies continually turned down shots at goal for a bigger prize and came up trumps more often than not by scoring five tries to the Hurricanes’ four.

“We knew that if we were going to beat the Hurricanes, we had to score some tries,” Brumbies skipper Allan Alaalatoa said.

“The last time we played, we didn’t get many A-zone opportunities, so we wanted to take as many as we could today, and our A-zone was really good today.”

Tom Wright scored a crucial second half try against the Hurricanes during the Brumbies’ qualifying win at GIO Stadium, on June 07, 2025. (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)

While the Brumbies threw caution to the wind with their decision making, it was in a controlled manner.

The front-row grabbed four of the side’s five tries, with hooker Billy Pollard grabbing a double to press his Wallabies claims. His front-row partners Alaalatoa and James Slipper also scored tries by diving over from close range.

Fullback Tom Wright was the lone back to score, crossing after a “genius” play from the Brumbies which included a lovely bit of skill from wrecking-ball back-rower Rob Valetini.

“It’s an absolute special,” said pundit Morgan Turinui. “Go home Rob Valetini, get online and get yourself some personalised plates: GEN1US. That is genius, and the line from Tom Wright, it’s an easy stroll into the line.”

But as much as the Brumbies’ five tries was the different on the scoreboard, their victory was built on defence.

The Brumbies held the Hurricanes out in the first half on several occasions to frustrate their New Zealand rivals.

That theme continued early in the second half, while their gallant defensive efforts were also on show at the end as they scrambled back to deny the Hurricanes a late opportunity with the seconds ticking by.

The effort wouldn’t have been missed by Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt, who would have been thrilled to see the Brumbies’ tight-five, particularly Pollard and Tom Hooper, roll up their sleeves and do a number on their opponents.

“It felt good to earn ourselves another week,” Alaalatoa said.

“We knew that it was going to take everything we had physically. We spoke a lot about our tackle area and we knew we had to be good in that area, and it was a much-improved effort from the last time we played them.”

Billy Pollard scored twice during the Brumbies’ win over the Hurricanes in Canberra, Australia. (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)

Hurricanes co-captain Du’Plessis Kirifi was once again superb, but even the outstanding flanker had a case of the fumbles as he inexplicably lost control of the ball after making a clear linebreak in the second half.

The blunder summed up the Hurricanes’ evening, with the men from Wellington not quite clicking despite showing glimpses of their best.

“We didn’t get the job done tonight. As much as I’d like to say we didn’t play well, that Brumbies team really took it up a notch and showed why they’ve been so successful, especially in the finals. We just weren’t good enough tonight, and they were,” Kirifi said.

The turning point in the match occurred in the minutes before half-time as Wright intercepted Ruben Love near the Brumbies’ tryline with the score locked 14-14.

Shortly after the Brumbies were down the other end of the field and rather than opt for a shot at goals, Alaalatoa pointed to the corner and it wasn’t long before Pollard had his second try.