'Dominated': ACT Brumbies' Super Rugby Trans-Tasman final hopes dashed by Chiefs

They're the words of Laurie Fisher that will sting the ACT Brumbies when they wake up on Sunday morning after their Super Rugby Trans-Tasman hopes were all but dashed in Hamilton.

The Brumbies' forwards were outclassed in a 40-19 round two loss to the Waikato Chiefs at Waikato Stadium on Saturday night.

It leaves the Super Rugby AU runners-up with an 0-2 record in a five-game competition, with only the top two advancing any further than that final round next month.

Rival props Sione Mafileo and Aidan Ross were the chief destroyers in the opening half, pardon the pun, putting in a dominant shift against the Brumbies' Test-capped duo of Allan Alaalatoa and Scott Sio.

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The Brumbies had tasted defeat four times this year. Thrice by two points, and once by three. But this was a different beast.

"We let ourselves down, we were disappointing. We lacked physicality and intent," Brumbies coach Dan McKellar said.

"We've spoken about it a lot. You won't win in New Zealand if you're lacking in those areas. We were beaten by the better team on the night.

"They got dominance [at the scrum]. We lacked intent there. Last week we really struggled with the speed of the call, the delay and how slow it was, we didn't have that issue tonight.

"In the second half we scrummaged better, but in the first half the Chiefs managed to assert some dominance there."

There were some shining lights for the Brumbies, as hard as they might be to find in between the Chiefs' early rolling maul try and dominant scrum.

Solomone Kata was threatening with ball in hand. Wallabies prospect Len Ikitau scored their lone try, surging onto a Tom Wright pass after the Test-capped winger held up the Chiefs line with a classy touch.

Ikitau must surely have emerged as Dave Rennie's best option to wear the No. 13 jersey in the Wallabies looming three-Test series against France.

But more pressing on this night for Ikitau and his Brumbies teammates was finding a way to stop the Chiefs.

The home side's No. 8 Luke Jacobson reaped the rewards at scrum time, scoring a first half double as the Chiefs enjoyed the weight of possession and territory.

It would take something special for the Brumbies to overturn a 14-point deficit at the break and reignite their Trans-Tasman campaign.

If Damian McKenzie's early second half try was anything to go by, there would be no such concern for a side hunting redemption after a gut-wrenching Super Rugby Aotearoa final defeat.

Bayley Kuenzle and Rob Valetini scored second half tries for the Brumbies, who lost Darcy Swain to a yellow card for high contact, but it was cold comfort against a rampant title contender.

"Really disappointed to be honest. We lacked intent and physicality at the start," Alaalatoa said on Stan Sport.

"We gave them too much of a lead and then they came out in the second half and scored very early, so it was hard for us to come back against a quality Chiefs side.

"We really addressed our performance in the first half, especially based around our set piece, and then we give away a turnover at the start, kicked it down there and they score a try. It was hard to come back.

"The boys have got to understand we have got to hold each other accountable in our review. We have another tough challenge in Auckland against the Blues, we've got to jump back in the saddle."

One wonders if the rigours of a hectic month had finally caught up with the Brumbies. Two Super Rugby AU finals games, culminating in a heartbreaking loss in the decider, coupled with clashes across the ditch against New Zealand's best two teams would take a toll.

But McKellar's troops will not go looking for excuses, instead "we've got to park it and move on". All they will look for is a way to reverse their fortunes leading into a clash with the Blues at Eden Park.

AT A GLANCE

Super Rugby Trans-Tasman round two: WAIKATO CHIEFS 40 (Luke Jacobson 2, Tupou Vaa'i, Damian McKenzie, Alex Nankivell, Anton Leinert-Brown tries; McKenzie 4 conversions) bt ACT BRUMBIES 19 (Len Ikitau, Bayley Kuenzle, Rob Valetini tries; Noah Lolesio 2 conversions) at Waikato Stadium.