ACT Brumbies say scrum debate 'a frustration for the whole Super Rugby AU competition'

ACT Brumbies captain Allan Alaalatoa says his side were "harshly done by" under referee Nic Berry during a 26-7 loss to the Queensland Reds in Brisbane on Saturday night.

The round 10 defeat marked the end of the regular season, with the Reds now set to host the Melbourne Rebels in a semi-final next week.

The winner will set up a date with the Brumbies at Canberra Stadium on September 19 but first on the agenda is ironing out differences with officials at the scrum base, which were fuelled by Scott Sio's battle with Reds enforcer Taniela Tupou.

National director of rugby Scott Johnson has reportedly organised for Tupou to be scrutinised by scrummaging gurus due to accusations of "angling in" instead of packing in straight.

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Brumbies loosehead prop Sio was pinged by Berry when scrums collapsed, leaving tighthead Alaalatoa irritated.

"We were probably harshly done by there, that's my honest opinion," Alaalatoa said.

"We're trying to paint a good picture there, but when the tighthead is flat on his stomach, I don't think we could do much more than that.

"At the end of the day we got penalised so we need to find a better way to find a better picture for the referee.

"He was pinging Scotty for his bind, but it's hard for Scotty to keep a scrum up when the tighthead is on the ground. From our end, we did everything we can to paint the picture.

"At the end of the day it wasn't good enough for the ref, so we need to look back on that and find ways we can paint a better picture."

Brumbies coach Dan McKellar hopes the picture all three title contenders are painting in the coming fortnight looks a little clearer, saying "we're wanting looseheads to get their elbow up, but it's hard to get their elbow up when the bind is changed onto the elbow".

"The scrum has been a frustration for the whole competition to be honest, it's not the loosehead's job to keep the tighthead up," McKellar said.

"We've had a number of conversations about it. I know it has been frustrating for the officials as well. It's something that hopefully is a little bit tidier in a couple of weeks' time.

"There were a few there where we were harshly done."

However McKellar concedes the Brumbies were their own worst enemy in the defeat to the Reds, which continues their run of outs in the northern state.

Irae Simone looms as the only injury concern out of the Reds clash after he came from the field with a tight calf, however McKellar says he was brought off as a precaution with an eye on the final.

Reds coach Brad Thorn wasn't going to bite when asked what he thought of the scrum accusations levelled against Tupou.

"Same old, same old hey, it's all we hear for weeks," he said.

"So I don't know what I'm supposed to say really; he's been doing the business all year and he wasn't tearing them apart tonight, just got his work done."

AT A GLANCE

Super Rugby AU round 10: QUEENSLAND REDS 26 (Liam Wright, Chris Feauai-Sautia, Tate McDermott tries; James O'Connor conversion; O'Connor 3 penalties) bt ACT BRUMBIES 7 (Pete Samu try; Bayley Kuenzle conversion) at Lang Park. Referee: Nic Berry