The Brumbies put a week of off-field distractions behind them to score a last-gasp one-point win over the Free State Cheetahs at Canberra Stadium.

A win was the only way the Brumbies could start moving forward after White said he was keen to apply to be England's new coach last week.

White withdrew his interest on Friday and said he was committed to his four-year deal with the Brumbies, but it was Christian Lealiifano's penalty goal after the siren which secured a 24-23 triumph and ended the drama.

"The most important thing is I want to make sure it's [speculation] finished once and for all," White said.

"This is the Brumbies, we're in the Super Rugby competition, I won't want to hear any more about where I'm going.

"[It's time] to focus on the rugby, the Brumbies are important, we've won two games and we're at the top of the log.

"It's dead and buried. That's it. It's only fair on this group of players that we start focusing on them."

The Brumbies wouldn't have used the speculation surrounding White as an excuse if they had lost the clash against the Cheetahs.

But a defeat would have added uncertainty to whether it had disrupted the squad on the eve of the game.

For 75 minutes the Brumbies were in danger of being just the second team to lose to the Cheetahs outside South Africa. But Lealiifano calmly slotted two penalties in the last five minutes to lift his team to victory.

The win was far from convincing, with the Brumbies struggling to build pressure against one of the worst travelling sides in the competition.

But last year it took the Brumbies two months to win two games. This year they're undefeated after two matches.

They trailed by as many as 13 points in the second half before launching a comeback.

"That's what it's all about, the bottom line is we're a happy team and you need to build on those results," White said.

"I've never, ever, ever won a rugby game and hated it.

"I'll win every single game by one point and it will be the best season of my life. This is a tough competition. I'd like to win by 50 every week, but if we win every game by one point we'll be the happiest team in the competition.

The Brumbies jumped to an early lead when scrumhalf Nic White made a swerving run to set up the first try of the match for Henry Speight.

But instead of sparking the Brumbies into the game, the Cheetahs came to life and scored 20 unanswered points.

It wasn't until Pat McCabe crossed in the second half that the Brumbies got back in the contest and then they took control of the match.

The Brumbies still have plenty to work on with poor execution and handling limiting their attacking chances and giving the Cheetahs an opportunity to win the match.

But the resolve in the group will provide the foundation block for future success.

Nic White left the field in the first half after succumbing to his battle with the flu and flyhalf Matt Toomua will have a scan to see if he damaged his medial ligament.

Toomua injured his knee in the first half, but played the entire match.

Brumbies captain Ben Mowen praised his group's fighting spirit.

"All you want in the group is consistency and you can't pull a win like that out of the fire if you don't have consistency," Mowen said.

"We're not going to make any excuses this year, if we lose a game it' s because we didn't put in – as simple as that.

"Parts of that game were good and parts we'll work on, but to recover that 13 points and pull a win out after the siren is really exciting for a young group."