Australia's hopes of winning the Super Rugby title took another hit on Sunday as the Canterbury Crusaders powered their way past the Brumbies with a 40-14 win.

Australian teams have now won just two of 11 games against their New Zealand rivals this year and the Brumbies face a daunting trip to play the defending champion Otago Highlanders in Invercargill on Saturday.

The Crusaders opened up the Brumbies' wounds and poured salt on them when they inflicted the biggest home defeat in Brumbies history in a disappointing Anzac contest.

The 26-point gap eclipsed the previous record set only three weeks ago when the Waikato Chiefs stormed to a 48-23 triumph in the capital.

The Brumbies are sweating on the fitness of winger Joseph Tomane, who injured his knee late in the match while co-captain Stephen Moore is expected to play despite copping a knock on his calf.

But aside from lamenting "individual errors", which led to four of the Crusaders' six tries, Larkham said there was no need to panic halfway through the season.

"There were some individual errors that really hurt us, but whenever you get a score racked up like that you're going to be disappointed," Larkham said.

"I thought it was more our mistakes. The Crusaders are a very good side, obviously, but we made the mistakes. They scored at least four tries off our mistakes. We certainly don't want to panic and read too much into it."

Moore said he couldn't put weight on his right leg in the second half but is confident of being fit for the trip to Invercargill, which includes a two-day stopover in Queenstown.

The Brumbies will also get flanker David Pocock back after serving a two-match suspension.

Asked if the Brumbies players were now facing a challenge to respond, Moore said: "That's the only option. I haven't really looked at the table, you don't want to be losing too many games fullstop otherwise you'll be out of the hunt. We've lost two out of our last three games so the next one is so important for us."

The Melbourne Rebels now hold a one-point lead at the top of the Australian conference.

The Brumbies fumbled, bumbled and spluttered their way through their match against the Crusaders and couldn't hold on to the chances they created.

They have lost two of three games against New Zealand teams this season, including conceding more than 40 points in losses to the Crusaders and the Waikato Chiefs.

The Crusaders have now won the past six games against the Brumbies in a streak that goes back to 2009.

"Not too many things went wrong for us today, I'm really stoked for the lads," said Crusaders captain Kieran Read.

"We put a lot of pressure on them defensively and then we capitalised … it worked well for us. They threw everything at us, I'm pretty buggered right now to be honest. We can't rest on what we've done."

The most disappointing aspect of the Brumbies' loss was the fact they failed to execute the fundamentals, dropping easy possession, slipping off tackles and at times looking lost in their own game plan.

Flanker Scott Fardy said: "We've got to be better than that, give credit to the Crusaders because they were better than us. But we have to improve."

Giant Crusaders winger Nemani Nadolo was a handful, scoring one try and setting up another as the visitors started with a bang and scored three tries in the first 21 minutes.

They pounced on every error the Brumbies made and were ruthless in defence and forced multiple turnovers that proved costly.

In the end it was six tries to two with Crusaders hooker Codie Taylor bagging a double while Tomane and Robbie Coleman scored for the Brumbies.

Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder said: "We're only halfway through this campaign and it was only a couple of years ago New Zealand teams were struggling to beat Australian teams.

"This competition, that's how quickly the worm can turn. At the moment, yeah there is a little bit of dominance [by New Zealand teams], and it's a fact. But there's a long way to go."

AT A GLANCE

CANTERBURY CRUSADERS 40 (Codie Taylor 2, Nemani Nadolo, Jone Macilai, Israel Dagg, Marty McKenzie tries; Richie Mo'unga 3, Marty McKenzie conversions) bt ACT BRUMBIES 14 (Robbie Coleman, Joseph Tomane tries; Christian Lealiifano 2 conversions) at Canberra Stadium on Sunday. Referee: Jaco Peyper. Crowd: 16,418.