The Brumbies remain on top of the Super Rugby leader board despite being down to 14 men for 20 minutes of the all-Australian blockbuster.

Reds prop James Slipper scored with five minutes on the clock to level the scores and keep the Brumbies two points clear of Queensland at the top of the competition.

Inside centre Christian Lealiifano - who scored all of the Brumbies points - and prop Scott Sio were both sent to the sin bin for repeated infringements, but that didn't stop McKenzie from venting his anger that more should have been done.

The Reds scored three tries to one and McKenzie was adamant prop Ben Daley had grounded the ball, but it wasn't given by the third match official.

"No surprises out there was there,'' McKenzie said.

"Twelve penalties in their defending quarter for them, that's not counting the advantages on the penalties, the repeated infringements.

"It was a frustrating time, we had a big crowd, they wanted to see some action.

"We were determined to score some tries, but we can only contribute what we can contribute.''

Reds captain James Horwill was just as furious at what he perceived as the Brumbies regularly overstepping the letter of the law.

"There was just some cynical stuff,'' Horwill said.

"That's the reality of it, we knew they would do that.

"They're good at slowing the ball down, and we should have been better to execute when they were down to 14 men.''

White and McKenzie had engaged in a pre-match battle in the press regarding both teams and the amount of penalties they give away.

And the South African World Cup winning coach hit back when quizzed on McKenzie's latest claims.

"I don't know if we could get punished any more, I think they had about 20 penalties on our line,'' White said.

"Ewen has obviously got a view, but they got a lot of penalties and had a full crack at our line.

"I'm proud by the fact that we kept them out.''

The Brumbies turned in one of the finest defensive displays witnessed in recent memory.

Time and time again they repelled the Reds and ensured the parochial Queensland crowd of 38,404 had to be content with a share of the spoils.

Two terrific try-saving tackles from Jesse Mogg and Lealiifano typified the Brumbies' approach.

"That's what you've got to be proud of, you can't coach that,'' White said of the defensive effort.

"The will to present yourself wave after wave after wave, that's what coaches enjoy.

"When they did score, they literally scored in the corners.

"When you get that sort of return from a defensive effort, you've got to be proud.''