Just a year ago the Brumbies went into their blockbuster derby against the Waratahs intent on exploiting the defence of a rookie named Israel Folau.

Stop the Waratahs' forward pack and you'll stifle try-scoring machine Israel Folau.

If the Hurricanes weren't panicking after losing their opening two games of the Super Rugby season they might need to change that approach after dropping their third.

The main message coming out of the Brumbies camp over flanker David Pocock's knee injury.

Images of the pre-season match between the Highlanders and Brumbies in Queenstown.

The Chiefs have another title - that's all that really matters.

It wasn't pretty and two or three reputations suffered as the Chiefs let the Brumbies too far into this game - but they pulled it out of the fire, writes Richard Loe.

All the signs suggested that it was always going to take a supreme piece of individual skill to decide this one.

Sometimes strange things happen that just make you believe this is your time.

All rugby eyes are on Hamilton tonight as a tasty decider and teaser towards the resumption of transtasman sporting combat.

Write down Jesse Mogg as one of the missing pieces in the Wallaby jigsaw.

With one game left in the season you'd expect the number of decisions to be made by Herald Rugby Fantasy managers to decrease - but there are still plenty of moves to be considered before the Chiefs and Brumbies clash in Hamilton.

The Brumbies and Cheetahs head out of Canberra to South Africa today with the hosts the only side who will unfurl their playing gear again.

When it comes to rugby coaching, Jake White wants to operate in a manner similar to the style and methods Rod Macqueen brought to the Brumbies when he worked with them around the birth of Super rugby.

The Brumbies have qualified for the Super Rugby finals for the first time in nine years after beating the Melbourne Rebels 39-17 at Canberra Stadium late on Friday.

Weather warnings had been on the money and as conditions closed in on Eden Park, tactics looked straightforward.

Wet-weather footy, real rugby where the age-old tenets of ball security, discipline, defence and territory held true.

Shortly after Dan Carter expressed his delight at returning to the Crusaders' starting line-up against the Brumbies, he mentioned how once again the men from Canberra are the team to beat, just as they were at the start of his career.

You'd be hard pressed finding two more contrasting five-eighths than the Brumbies' Matt Toomua and Queensland's Quade Cooper.

The much-hyped match to decide Australia's dominant Super 15 team proved inconclusive after the Reds and Brumbies were deadlocked in a 19-19 draw.

The tension between the Brumbies and Queensland has reached boiling point ahead of tonight's huge Super rugby derby, with both sides taking pot-shots at each other's ill-discipline.

The wreckage stacked up to seven successive defeats tonight in Dunedin as they fell 30-19 to a controlled Brumbies team.

Images from the Chiefs 22-27 defeat of the Brumbies in the Super 15 final match.