Why there is reason to believe in the ACT Brumbies' Super Rugby hopes

Twice ACT conceded tries off a rolling maul against the Queensland Reds - so while the 52 points they scored will fill reams of copy, the Brumbies are far from the finished product.

And that's what makes them so exciting.

If the Super Rugby Pacific season ended today, the Brumbies would host a quarter-final. They would be the only Australian team in the top seven - and the side in eighth would likely be cannon fodder.

Exactly how they stack up against all of New Zealand's franchises remains a question unanswered. A win over the Blues was followed by a comprehensive loss to the Crusaders - but the bulk of the Brumbies' Wallabies stars were left off the flight to Christchurch that week.

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But fans have a reason to believe in Stephen Larkham's Brumbies.

Fullback Tom Wright "is the whole package". At 34, veteran lock Cadeyrn Neville "has been really special for us this year". A Wallaby-laden forward pack can match it with any in the competition.

So when flyhalf Noah Lolesio says he can sense something "pretty rare" in this group, you start to wonder if this group has the makings of a genuine championship-winner.

"The last couple of games, we've never been the first team to score. It just shows the resilience of the group, the resilience of the team. Everyone is on the same page," Lolesio said.

"There were probably opportunities in the first half to really run away with it [against the Reds], but that's footy. It's about how we react and adapt to things coming our way. We really did that well. Credit to the team, honestly, it's pretty rare to have something like that."

Lolesio admits there were times the Brumbies could have lost their way - but instead they rallied to score five second half tries en route to their first win in Brisbane since 2015.

"We just wanted to continue to build pressure. We knew as forwards, there was going to be a lot of set piece throughout our maul and throughout our scrum," Brumbies captain Allan Alaalatoa said.

"That's where we wanted to take them there, but we didn't get any ascendancy at the start. We just knew we had to keep knocking on the door, keep sticking to our system. As Bernie [Larkham] said, it slowly opened up."

And when things open up, players like Wright - who is quickly emerging as the leading candidate to wear No. 15 for the Wallabies following his transition from the wing - can take advantage and unlock the Brumbies' freakish attack.

"It's like having another set of eyes probably a pass wider. He's a freak of a talent, he makes my job a lot easier with his comms, and my job is just to get him into space," Lolesio said.

"He's a great athlete, obviously he has got incredible feet, he is rapid quick. He has got the whole package, to be honest. He's really growing into that 15 role coming from the wing, so I'm really looking forward to what he can do later in the season."

"We can't slack off now. [The Fijian Drua] a lot better than last year and we know that, we've got to front up.

"We know we need to be better, and that's been our main theme throughout the season, not to stay complacent with our performances.

"At training, we're actually trying to get better, trying to improve what we're trying to do each week and every day. It's obviously working, so we'll stick at it and not get too far ahead of ourselves."

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