Brumbies face horror night after Blues loss

When Jake White and his players wake up this morning, they will know whether their season is over or if they have broken their eight-year play-off drought.

In a disastrous turn of events, the Brumbies' shock 30-16 loss to the Auckland Blues at Canberra Stadium sent them spiralling into uncertainty.

At the start of yesterday, all the odds pointed towards the Brumbies making the finals.

For them not to make it, everything had to go against them while conversely they only needed one slice of luck to make the play-offs for the first time since 2004.

Had they beaten the Blues or even lost by seven points or less they would have still been in the finals.

But a 14-point defeat and the Queensland Reds bonus-point win over the NSW Waratahs dashed their hopes of finishing at the top of the Australian conference and playing a home final.

It left the Brumbies relying on either the Pretoria Bulls to lose to the Johannesburg Lions or the Durban Sharks to fall to the Free State Cheetahs this morning for the Brumbies' to hold on to their play-off spot.

Given the Bulls and Sharks were playing against lower-ranked sides, it was unlikely either would lose their matches.

It meant the Brumbies were hoping for an overnight miracle and there was a sombre feeling at the club.

Some of the players watched the start of their demise at their Griffith headquarters as the Reds beat the Waratahs.

Others were too devastated to look on.

Coach White was shattered when the Reds collected a bonus point and had all but conceded his team would not be playing finals when he spoke to The Sunday Canberra Times before the South African matches had started.

''I said it would be a failure if we didn't make the finals [and I stick by that],'' White said last night.

''No one remembers where you came the year before and whether you've had a great year and come seventh or eighth - it's irrelevant.

''You want to make sure you win. If we don't get into the play-offs, it would be a failure because we were so close.''

The Brumbies were holding slim hope results in South Africa would go their way.

It was the situation they least expected to be in as they ran on to their home ground for their last regular season match against a team which had won just three games all year.

But the injury hit and star-laden Blues shocked everyone in a dominant 14-point win.

The Brumbies' composure and ability to execute under pressure had seen them lead the Australian conference for almost four months.

Henry Speight tried to spark the ACT team into action with a brilliant solo try.

With time running out the Brumbies were still within striking distance of stealing a losing bonus point, but they failed to deliver.

The Blues threw the Brumbies hopes of redemption and a stellar revival under White into disarray with their dominant win.

The loss was punctuated by a woeful defensive effort. The Brumbies missed 38 tackles in their biggest defeat of the year.

Conversely, everything went right for the lowly Blues.

They threw miracle passes, ran the ball from everywhere and looked unstoppable. The Brumbies resembled a casualty ward after the match.

Joseph Tomane reinjured his ankle and played just 30 minutes, Dan Palmer has a problem with his foot, Ben Alexander withdrew before kick-off and Zack Holmes nursed a shoulder injury through the match. But White and captain Ben Mowen said injuries were no excuse for the performance.

''Our attitude was definitely off … defence is about attitude and it comes down to how much you want it,'' Mowen said.

''What's done is done, we have to sit back now and wait. We'll all be severely disappointed [if we don't make finals] … were desperate [to play again].''

The Brumbies first campaign with White at the helm has been outstanding. Few expected them to be in finals contention, but the no-name squad has proved everyone wrong. Missed penalties hurt their chances of gaining a losing bonus point, with four attempts failing.