ACT Brumbies' Super Rugby finals hopes dealt a blow by Jaguares

A win over the Argentina Jaguares would have taken the ACT Brumbies to second in the Australian conference, and within a whisker of the Super Rugby top eight.

Instead, they squandered crucial opportunities to fall to a 20-15 defeat at the hands of the Jaguares at Jose Amalfitani Stadium on Sunday (AEST).

The bonus point loss snaps a two-game winning streak and leaves the Brumbies four points in arrears of Australian conference leaders Melbourne heading into the final six weeks of the season.

The saving grace is the prospect of four home games to round out their season with four games against conference rivals - but none against the leading Rebels.

The Jaguares, on the other hand, have blown the South African conference wide open after toppling the Brumbies despite the visiting team's domination of the set piece.

While the Brumbies return home having failed to conquer Super Rugby's most dreaded road trip, McKellar has plenty of room for optimism.

"I'm really pleased with the effort and the desire this group showed. We've just flown around the world and played against basically the Argentinian national side, and put in a performance that put us in a position to win the game," McKellar said.

"The reason we didn't win the game is we didn't take a couple of opportunities, and errors in critical moments.

"We've got to execute a little bit better in attack and sharpen up. There were times we just went a little one-out, and they forced error, so we'll review that."

It was a familiar face drawing first blood for the Jaguares as Tomas Cubelli swooped on Henry Speight's dropped ball to stream through and kick forward for Sebastian Cancelliare to score.

It was an error the Brumbies simply could not afford to repeat against one of the best counter-attacking outfits in Super Rugby.

The Brumbies appeared to have learnt their lesson as Wallabies hopefuls Folau Fainga'a and Tom Banks pressed their claim for a spot at the World Cup by scoring pivotal tries to give the visitors the lead and breathe life into their hopes of an unbeaten overseas tour.

However the lead was short-lived as the Jaguares attack clicked into gear to see Matias Orlando and Agustin Creevy crash over, with the Brumbies' resolve being tested as it was a week prior.

When the opportunity finally came - trailing by five with Marcos Kremer shown a yellow card - the Brumbies failed to make the most of it as Sam Carter coughed up the ball.

It was a moment indicative of the Brumbies' night as they struggled to find the killer instinct that had steeled their past two outings.

"We had our opportunities there, we just didn't capitalise," Brumbies captain Christian Leali'ifano said.

"The Jaguares are a very good team, and they put us under a lot of pressure. We've just got to be better in our attack shape, we had some opportunities there but we just weren't in position early early enough to execute. When we go away, we've just got to keep getting better. This is a tough competition as we all know, but I am proud of the boys' effort, and we'll just go back now and regroup."

Next in line are the Auckland Blues - another side caught in the mid-table logjam.