Brumbies playmaker Matt Toomua suffered another ankle injury just 25 minutes into his comeback. Toomua was rushed to South Africa last week to join the Brumbies ahead of their clash against the Lions. Despite fears he returned too early, Toomua injured the opposite ankle to the one that has kept him out of action for the past month. He was devastated after the crucial win, but was upbeat when asked if he would be ready to play against the Bulls on May 29. Toomua is a critical element to the Brumbies' hopes of making the finals. He is a leading voice in the back line and provides the spark that's needed to get them across the line. But in other injury news, the Brumbies are set to be bolstered by the return of prop Scott Sio to play the Bulls.

Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham will have an interesting headache if Matt Toomua is fit to play the Bulls. Larkham opted to keep Christian Lealiifano at flyhalf in the win against the Lions while shifting Toomua to inside centre. Toomua has been the Brumbies' first-choice flyhalf for the past four years with Lealiifano as the inside centre. But Lealiifano has found his feet in the chief playmaker role and has been outstanding in attack and defence. He scored a 30-metre intercept try to put the Brumbies ahead in the first half against the Lions and directed play well. However, he is still working on his goal kicking after a few more misses which could have proved costly. Lealiifano missed a conversion attempt from almost in front of the posts against the Cape Town Stormers two weeks ago. He missed another from a similar position against the Lions, but it didn't come back to haunt the Brumbies. If his general play continues to improve, his goal kicking will follow.

The Brumbies boast Wallabies talent across almost every position in their line-up, but their back line has struggled to find a clinical edge in recent weeks. They broke the shackles by scoring three of the Brumbies' four tries to secure a crucial bonus point. Tevita Kuridrani, Christian Lealiifano and Joseph Tomane all scored as the Brumbies beat the Lions 30-20. It was a turnaround from recent weeks where the rolling maul has dominated play and the backs have been kept out of the contest. They need to continue to take control of games and demand the ball to show their talent. Do they have the back line talent to match the best teams in the competition? Only time will tell.

Everyone talks about try-scoring prowess in Super Rugby. But if the Brumbies make the Super Rugby finals and go on to win the championship, it will be off the back of their defence. The Brumbies have conceded just 14 tries in 13 games this year. The next-best team is the Waikato Chiefs, who have let in 15 tries in their 12 games. It's a credit to Brumbies collision coach Peter Ryan, who rejoined the club this year after a stint coaching in the NRL. The Brumbies aren't the prettiest team at times, but they manage to hold on to shut teams out of the contest. It means even though they have lost six games this year, they have secured 10 bonus points for either scoring four tries or losing games by less than seven points. If the Brumbies' defensive trend continues, will it be enough to help them lift the championship trophy?