The ACT Brumbies are finals bound for a fifth consecutive season and they're confident they can break a trans-Tasman hoodoo to stamp themselves as genuine Super Rugby title contenders.
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The Brumbies secured Australia's guaranteed play-off spot when they muscled their way past the Melbourne Rebels in a 32-3 bonus-point win at a slippery Canberra Stadium on Saturday night.
The dewy conditions made it hard for the Brumbies to fire a warning shot to the rest of the competition but they did enough to kill the NSW Waratahs' and Western Force's finals hopes.
Super Rugby will go on a month-long hiatus before the final two games of the regular-season against the Queensland Reds and Waikato Chiefs on July 7 and 15 respectively.
The Brumbies will use the break to plot a path to a drought-breaking title and they'll get to take the first step in Canberra after winning the rights to a home final.
Whether they can be the shining beacon in an otherwise disastrous year for Australian rugby will be determined by the way they power into the play-offs.
Australian teams have lost 28 games in a row against New Zealand opponents, but the Brumbies believe they've got what it takes to break the Kiwi dominance.
Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham declared making the finals wasn't enough. He wants to win a championship.
"In review of the season it's not about getting to the final it's about winning the final so we need to make sure the push from until the end of the competition is harder than it's ever been," Larkham said.
"We've had a pretty good focus on trying to beat New Zealand teams for a while now and we haven't done it.
"But if you look at our games we had the Hurricanes at half-time and we've lost our other ones against New Zealand sides by less than seven points
"We're working towards creating a better balanced game and we've been doing that all season and we feel if we get it right we should be able to match it with those guys."
The Brumbies fell into a mid-season slump and lost four games in a row, but have rebounded in the best possible way to win their past three matches.
"It feels very good. We had a run of four games that we lost but the morale of the team was still high and that's what you're seeing now," Larkham said.
"We pushed through that period where things weren't going perfectly for us and we had a magnificent tour South Africa and Argentina and have put in a very good performance under the fatigue of three weeks intense travel and terrible conditions to win the game with the bonus points.
The Brumbies are now 13 points ahead of the Waratahs with just two games remaining and the Force won't be able to catch the ACT side.
The injury-ravaged Rebels posed a major threat to the Brumbies' hopes of a happy homecoming after a two-game tour of South Africa and Argentina.
Had they beaten the Brumbies, it would have smashed open the door for the Waratahs and Force to make a late charge.
They refused to roll over despite a nightmare year on and off the field, but in the end the Brumbies were far too clinical.
The Brumbies scored three tries in the second half to put the result beyond doubt, with Tevita Kuridrani, Wharenui Hawera and Nigel Ah Wong all crossing for a season-defining win.
But the most impressive aspect was they kept the Rebels try-less and didn't leak a point in the second half.
"It's a good feeling going into this break," said Brumbies captain Sam Carter.
"We're really happy I think we've gained a lot of momentum. We knew this was going to be a tough week but we stuck in there.
"I think how clinical we were [was the good part]. At different parts of the game we weren't too fancy, we just put our heads down accumulated pressure and got points."
The fact they will make it to the finals speaks volumes about their resilience and guts after losing some of the most influential players in Australia at the end of last year.
The Brumbies lost Stephen Moore, David Pocock, Matt Toomua and Joe Tomane last year while Tomas Cubelli (knee) and Christian Lealiifano (leukaemia) haven't played a game this season.
Their absence has given unheralded players, including Chris Alcock, Joe Powell and Tom Banks, a chance to step up and stake their claim for a new generation to stand tall.
At times they've been sloppy and disjointed as a new team and cold and wet conditions on a chilly night didn't help their hopes of playing free-flowing attacking rugby against the Rebels.
But the Brumbies did what they came to achieve, getting a bonus-point win to complete a form turnaround and a hat-trick of triumphs.
Hosting a home final could have the added bonus of being a financial kicker for the Brumbies and help them turn a profit for the first time in a decade after losing more than $3 million in the past three years.
It also ensures Larkham will get at least one more home town farewell as he prepares to leave the club to become a full-time Wallabies assistant.
AT A GLANCE
ACT BRUMBIES 32 (Jordan Smiler, Tevita Kuridrani, Wharenui Hawera, Nigel Ah Wong tries; Wharenui Hawera 2 penalties, 3 conversions) bt MELBOURNE REBELS 3 (Reece Hodge penalty) at Canberra Stadium on Saturday night. Referee: Nick Briant. Crowd: 8970.
