The Brumbies are in the middle of a five-game make or break stretch for their title aspirations. They play the Durban Sharks at home on Saturday night before taking off on a two-game tour of South Africa. The impending South African tour makes beating the Sharks even more crucial. The Brumbies have now lost three games. They lost just four games last year to secure first place in the Australian conference. The Brumbies will hold on to top spot for at least one more week, but the NSW Waratahs and Western Force are in hot pursuit. The Brumbies haven't lost back-to-back games this year. "There's a bit of talk about this being an important stretch for us," coach Stephen Larkham said. "But realistically, the good teams win every week and we don't look too far ahead. We'll have a reassessment of what happened and then turn our focus to the Sharks."

The next challenge is against the man who rebuilt the Brumbies from a rabble in 2011 to grand finalists last year. Jake White and the Durban Sharks will arrive in Canberra later this week as they attempt to extend their lead at the top of the Super Rugby ladder. And White knows every little secret about the Brumbies and will use them to his advantage. It will be interesting to see if White attempts to tap into the psyche of his former players to give the Sharks a mental edge. White was the mastermind behind the revamped Brumbies. He overhauled the playing roster, invested in unknowns and introduced a strict plan designed to instil discipline. However, he quit after the grand final, just two years into a four-year deal, to return to South Africa.

An hour on a bus is hardly the ideal preparation for a contest against the most successful team in Super Rugby history. But after getting stuck in heavy traffic, that's exactly what happened to the Brumbies and they were 20 minutes late for one of the biggest games of their season. Brumbies and television officials were left bemused when the team bus failed to turn up on time. The players and coaches were stuck in Christchurch traffic. The trip from the hotel to AMI Stadium should have taken 30 minutes. Instead it took close to an hour. The players made a mad dash off the bus, into the change rooms and on to the field for a brief warm-up. The Crusaders had already been on the field for 20 minutes before the first Brumbies player emerged from the tunnel and it set the tone for the game.

In a game of few highlights for the Brumbies, scrumhalf Nic White can certainly stand tall. In what must be the biggest mis-match in Super Rugby, the diminutive White selflessly threw his body in front of rampaging Fijian giant Nemani Nadolo. The impressive part is he did it twice. White weighs 82 kilograms. Nadolo, one of the biggest outside backs in world rugby, is 125 kilograms. On two separate occasions, Nadolo spotted White, put his head down, gathered speed and tried to knock White back to Canberra. White refused to budge on both occasions. "We picked White out at the start of the week, he's one of the Brumbies' go-to men," Nadolo said. "He's a top player ... we had to cut the snake's head off. One run I saw him and three other guys. I just went straight at him." Nadolo is a cousin of Brumbies centre Tevita Kuridrani. Nadolo started the game on the wing before injuries forced him to move into direct opposition with Kuridrani. "It was awesome, I'll have a sore body tomorrow. I'm really proud of him, but far out he's got a hard body. I guess they breed them tough in the village we're from, we'll have a bowl of kava after the game."

The Brumbies have made a habit of breaking losing streaks in recent years and setting new records for the club. But a 14-year New Zealand drought against the Crusaders will burn deeply as they aim for the finals. The Brumbies haven't beaten the Crusaders across the Tasman since 2000. They haven't beaten the Crusaders anywhere since 2009. And the worrying part is they never even looked in the contest at AMI Stadium in Christchurch on Saturday. A late arrival to the ground didn't help, but the players failed to adjust to boggy conditions and gave the Crusaders too many chances to kick clear with penalty goals. Crusaders superstar and All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw said: "I don't know why it is [the 14-year drought]. This year we've lost two at home and that is annoying for the Crusaders, we pride ourselves on playing well at home. That rather than who you're playing is the real motivator." The Brumbies will have to wait at least two years to get another crack. The 20-point defeat was the Brumbies' biggest loss in almost three years.