If there was a better moment to illustrate why Saturday’s semi-final in Hamilton was not going to be the Brumbies’ night than Tom Wright’s dazzling-then-astonishing ‘no try’ in the 65th minute, I can’t readily think of it.
Trailing 37-17 with 15 minutes to play, desperately needing to score next to remain in the contest, the Brumbies’ restart sailed high and to the left, allowing Wright to win the contest and regain the kick-off, break through the Chiefs players to dart away for the corner, and diving for the line from a distance out for what looked to be a super-important try on so many levels.
But almost immediately, there was a metaphorical flag on the play, with the words of TMO Brett Cronan revealing the Chiefs were about to win a yet another big moment.
“We need to have a look at whether (Wright) actually gets the ball on the ground,” Cronan said to referee Nic Berry in almost disbelieving tones. “I think Chiefs 10 (Damian McKenzie) may have his hand under it the whole time.”
As Wright began to dive and let the FMG Stadium Waikato surface dampness work for him, McKenzie made initial contact under the ball. He then levered his right hand over onto the top of the ball, but actually lost contact as the two players came to ground together.
It wasn’t until Wright and the ball were fully in-goal that McKenzie was able to re-grip onto Wright’s arm on top of the ball again, ensuring the Brumbies full-back could not ground the ball before sliding dead-in-goal.
“That’s a hell of an effort,” Berry could be heard saying as Cronan confirmed the 22 restart, then letting out an ironic chuckle as he confirmed it was indeed no try.
Wright’s moment of brilliance was obliterated by McKenzie’s moment of brilliance, and with it, the Brumbies were heading back to Canberra with a fourth straight semi-final defeat in their luggage.
It’s another that’s going to sting, until at least next February, and maybe a full year until they potentially reach another semi-final and gain the chance for redemption.
They ended up really narrowing their attack and just playing square into the brick wall and just didn’t challenge the edges enough.
That’s going to be the frustrating part. The Brumbies are a very different team, playing a very different style to how they played the first season of Super Rugby Pacific in 2022, yet the history books for the last four seasons all say the same thing: beaten semi-finalists.
So will they view 2025 any differently?
“They’ve definitely grown in their attacking game over the years, and I do think the loss of [fly-half] Noah (Lolesio) after 10 minutes, that detracted from their ability to play their attacking game,” said former Brumbies and now Wallabies senior assistant coach Laurie Fisher, as we debriefed another ACT season falling one weekend short.
“The number of forward carries compared to the number of backs carries, that says that they weren’t able to play their natural game. I think it was really skewed, they ended up really narrowing their attack and just playing square into the brick wall and just didn’t challenge the edges enough.
“So I do think that hurt them, but they’re shown this year when they’re at their best and they’re using the ball, they can create space or they can exploit space.”
It’s a pertinent point. Though the Opta Club Hub tells you the Brumbies score more tries originating from lineout or scrum than any of the 50 other professional teams around the rugby world, it’s also worth noting that outside backs Corey Toole and Andy Muirhead, and outside centre Len Ikitau account for 28 of their 74 tries scored in 2025.
Yes, hooker Billy Pollard (11 tries) and tighthead prop turned pick-and-drive try-scoring machine Allan Ala’alatoa (eight) complete the five Brumbies within the top 15 players to have crossed for eight or more tries this season, but that also underlines the multifaceted nature of their attacking zone efficiency.
“They are able to score anywhere, but they’d be disappointed with Saturday night,” Fisher agreed. “I think they ended up with 33 per cent A-zone conversion and the Chiefs were 70-something per cent. I think it was seven opportunities to eight, so they’d be disappointed that they weren’t able to impose that part of their game as they have been able to all season.”
Stephen Larkham and the Brumbies coaches will have completed the most painful of reviews already this week, and it will contain more than a few moments they and the team would love to have back.
It got ragged and when it gets ragged, then reaction to breakdowns get ragged as well.
Little moments like missed defensive alignments around the ruck that allowed Emoni Narawa to cross for two of the easiest short-range tries he has scored, leaving defenders on the ground as they connected with each other instead of the ball-carrier.
And another week of lineout issues, with more over-throwing and mis-timed calls accounting for their four losses. Like last week against the Hurricanes, the Brumbies still won 15 lineouts to the Chiefs’ 12 but had to contend with dirty, disrupted set-piece ball throughout the match.
“I just think they got ragged chasing the game,” Fisher said. “At 19-17, with a bit of momentum into those first few minutes of the second half, to concede a try straight away and then you’re chasing the game from there with a fly-half [Jack Debreczeni] that hasn’t played hardly any rugby for them all year.
“It got ragged and when it gets ragged, then reaction to breakdowns get ragged as well.”
Lolesio has had a far from injury-free run this season, but this was a game where he was going to be crucial to the Brumbies’ chances of staying with the Chiefs. His deputy for much of 2025 has been Declan Meredith, but the headgear-wearing No.10 was ill for much of last week.
He stayed behind in Canberra, hoping to build fitness back to a level where he might have been available if the Brumbies reached the Grand Final. So when Lolesio came from the field in the 11th minute and subsequently failed his HIA, it was left to Debreczeni to steer the team around in what was his first rugby of any description since late March.
The Brumbies couldn’t afford to lose any players in this contest, but they really couldn’t afford to lose Lolesio.
Interestingly, Fisher doesn’t believe a fourth semi-final loss will create any mental scarring for this playing group, pointing to the fact they’ve still won 34 of 48 games under Larkham, scoring well over four tries a game on average along the way.
Don’t get me wrong, I think they train well – but I think there’s another level that they can get to in terms of the pressure they put on themselves, and their focus on execution quality.
“They play well on many more occasions than they don’t,” he said. “They’ll be strong-minded about that, so I don’t think there’s any scarring. There are things they need to do better, and I’d suggest that they need to be better Monday to Friday so you can be better under pressure on Saturday.
“To me, that would be one of their keys, the quality of what you’re doing on the training park – and don’t get me wrong, I think they train well – but I think there’s another level that they can get to in terms of the pressure they put on themselves, and their focus on execution quality.”
If there is one silver lining, a large contingent of the Brumbies players will be named in the Wallabies squad by Joe Schmidt this week, and there won’t be much time for kicking cans as a result, with Australian airports and hotels now just weeks away from the once-in-12-years surge of red-clad fans from the Home Nations.
“You look at the Brumbies’ performances over the last month, against the Crusaders, against the Hurricanes at home, and for, say, 45 minutes against the Chiefs, they played some really good football,” says Fisher, with Wallabies bucket cap firmly in place.
“The guys will be disappointed, but they really should bring confidence in their season, in where they are. For those guys who do get pulled into camp, they’ll come in feeling disappointed for the result, but good about themselves.”
Australian fans will be sweating on that being the case, with the British & Irish Lions arriving on these shores next week.
The Brumbies will have to quickly dust themselves off as well, and pull on a special edition jersey on Wednesday 9 July as they hope to replicate their historic win over the 2013 Lions.
Once the Lions are gone again, the Brumbies will commence their 2026 planning in earnest. But for what it’s worth, Fisher remains confident in their ability to be right up the pointy end of Super Rugby Pacific for a fifth straight year.
Ollie Sapsford has had a lot of game time and David Feluiai has grown as a rugby player this year, so the wider squad has had good exposure.
“Well, they’ll be hard to beat, you can guarantee that,” he added. “Look, they’ve lost some good players. Len Ikitau’s had an excellent season. Tom Hooper’s been magnificent all year. So there are a couple of big players that they are losing.
“Noah Lolesio obviously has been guiding the team around for years, and he’s another one, but they’ve been able to give guys really good game time this year.
“You look at the game time that young (lock) Lachie Shaw’s had, you look at the exposure that Declan Meredith has had, they’ll be better next season because of it.
“They’ll need to contract another centre, but Ollie Sapsford has had a lot of game time. David Feluiai has grown as a rugby player this year, so I do think that the wider squad has had good exposure.
“They’ll have a big off-season, and I’m sure they’ll set themselves up well again.”
