Queensland flanker Gill apologised to White after lifting him over a ruck, flipping him upside down and then dumping White to the ground in the Brumbies' thumping 29-0 win against the Reds.

The act of frustration is set to result in Gill being suspended after he was cited and the SANZAR judicial officer deemed the incident reached the red-card threshold.

The moment of madness could have easily turned ugly, and it evoked memories of the tackle which ended NRL forward McKinnon's career last year.

McKinnon and White were school mates and grew up in the Hunter Valley together before McKinnon chose rugby league and White opted for rugby union.

White feared for his safety and conceded the professional wrestling flip tackle could have ended in serious injury, but he accepted a personal apology from Gill.

"It was just an unfortunate part of the game … he said sorry and it's unfortunate with something like happened to Alex, but that doesn't really come into it," White said.

"It's a completely different situation to what happened with Alex, I never felt like I was going to land on my head. I just didn't know if my feet or legs would hit the ground.

"I don't remember much of it, it was pretty scary. It just went all slow-mo on me at the top. It's a scary part of footy, but I know Gilly pretty well and it's just lucky I came through unscathed."

Former Newcastle Knight McKinnon was diagnosed as a quadriplegic following a sickening tackle against the Melbourne Storm 12 months ago.

He has since stood up and is continuing his rehabilitation.

White's initial fear was that he had injured the medial ligament in his knee as he was slammed down to the Suncorp Stadium turf.

He managed to get to his feet and Gill was given a yellow card for his action, which led Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham to describe it as "reckless and dangerous".

The incident typified the Reds' Super Rugby season, Gill lashing out in frustration as the Queensland side defended its line in the 47^th minute.

The Reds were trailing by just 10 points at the time. But Gill's decision opened the door for Ben Alexander to dive over the ruck to score a try and the Brumbies scored another five-pointer while Gill was in the sin bin.

Gill will front a judiciary hearing this week where it will be decided if he is suspended.

"To be honest not a lot was running through my head. It was pretty scary once I got up there, but it went quickly," White said.

"Maybe he went in to clean someone out who's a bit bigger and he didn't realise how light I was.

"I slammed my knee, smacked it on the ground. I was lucky that I went all the way around. It was a full 360 degrees. Had he thrown me a bit further I might have landed on my feet … it was just unfortunate."

The Brumbies are gearing up for a blockbuster Australian derby against the NSW Waratahs in Sydney on Sunday.

They are unbeaten against Australian opponents this year, beating the Reds twice, the Western Force and the Melbourne Rebels.

But the defending champion Waratahs are the biggest test of the Brumbies' championship credentials after losing two matches in Sydney last season.

The Waratahs knocked the Brumbies out of the title race in a semi-final demolition last year, but they played that match without David Pocock and Stephen Moore.

Pocock is expected to make his comeback this week after recovering from an ankle injury. The former Wallabies skipper has been plagued by injury woes since the start of 2013, having two knee reconstructions which limited him to six games in two years.