After 17 weeks of Super Rugby Pacific, the ACT Brumbies, for the fourth time in a row, find themselves the last Australian side standing - and face the daunting prospect of a trip to New Zealand for the semifinals.
The Brumbies not only have to break a 20-match finals losing streak for Australian sides in New Zealand that stretches all the way back to 1997, but they will also face the hurdle they've fallen at for the last three years of Super Rugby Pacific.
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It should be noted that in each instance, it was not without a fight.
Starting in 2022, the Brumbies went down 20-19 against the Blues at Eden Park - the closest any Australian side has come to breaking the hoodoo.
It was a similar affair in 2023 in Hamilton, when, after being behind 9-6 going into the final ten minutes, a Damian McKenzie penalty goal and a Brodie Retallick try on full time proved enough to see the Chiefs emerge victorious, 19-6.
Both the Chiefs and Blues went on to lose the final the following week against the Crusaders - but in 2024's semi finals, the eventual champions in the Blues raced out to an early lead against the Brumbies, who were unable to close the gap, losing 34-20.
It is a run of tough close losses that coach Stephen Larkham has taken a lot of lessons from - which he will use to try and end the hoodoo when the Brumbies head to Hamilton once again after defeating the Hurricanes 35-28 in the last qualifying final.
Larkham admitted on Saturday night to reporters that all the progress and development of the 2025 season has been focused on getting over that elusive semifinal hurdle.
"We're happy we got the win, but we just said in the change rooms there that the process this year has been about going one better than last year," said Larkham in the post-match presser.
"There's a big challenge in front of us coming up against the Chiefs in Hamilton.
"We've been in this situation multiple times through the Brumbies career - there's a lot of work to do now."
The side found out that Saturday night's match was sudden death when it was announced on the loudspeakers at GIO Stadium, but Larkham admitted the side didn't change their focus after hearing the news.
"We didn't talk about it," Larkham admitted.
"We spoke about it at the start of the week that irrespective of the scores in the other games, we were going into this game knowing that we had to win.
"We spoke about controlling our emotions in finals footy and when it was announced over the loudspeaker, it could have been easy for the guys to start panicking a little bit, but it was a warm-up as usual and preparation as usual… I thought it was one of our better performances out there."
"As leaders, we spoke about it during the week and that's all we could have done," skipper Allan Alaalatoa added.
"For me it was just trying to lead that through our action, because there would have been no doubt that a few boys were thinking about the scenario now of winning that game."
Despite the imposing record ahead of them in New Zealand, the Brumbies victory on Saturday will likely make the remaining three Kiwi sides sit up and pay attention.
Coming into the match, the Hurricanes were arguably the in-form side of the competition, having not lost a match since round nine of the regular season and on a five match winning streak - which included scalps over the Brumbies and Reds in Australia and the top-ranked Chiefs in Wellington.
The Brumbies went down 49-34 last time they visited Hamilton - but Stephen Larkham admitted the focus is purely on what's in front of them, not the results of the past.
He even admitted that, despite their qualifying final loss to the Blues at home, the Chiefs still deserve their home semi-final.
"It's a completely different story with the Chiefs next week," said the Brumbies' head coach.
"I think there needs to be a reward for a team that finishes first. Otherwise, they're just like everyone else in the qualifying finals. I think they've been outstanding all year.
"They probably deserve a home semifinal based on their performances this year and the way that they've won their games and the way that they've performed this year. I think there needs to be. You need to reward that team that has come first.
"There'll be a different plan next week [for the Chiefs].
"There'll be different threats there next week. We faced a few of these through the season already. It'll be the same process."
The Brumbies will take a lot of confidence out of a strong set piece performance, with the Brumbies winning the scrum battle, breakdown battle and general play in the middle of the field against the Hurricanes.
"We're not experts in winning finals, but certainly feel that having a good set-piece is going to go a long way to winning finals games and we saw that ," Larkham said.
"I thought our scrum was outstanding. Our lineout let us down a little bit and put us under the pump a little bit with turnover ball.
"But obviously those two opportunities there from the maul put 14 points on the board for us."
Not only will the set piece will need to back up again next week, but potentially for longer should the Brumbies break the hoodoo.
Not only will they have to overcome the Chiefs at home, finals connotations also come into consideration - with the side potentially staying on the other side of the Tasman for up to two weeks if they win in Hamilton and the Crusaders win in Christchurch.
Conversely, should the Blues win in Christchurch, the Brumbies could find themselves playing the Chiefs for hosting rights of the 2025 final. A victory for the Canberra side would mark the first time since 2004 (excluding the 2020 Super Rugby AU final) the Brumbies would have hosted a final.
However, the Brumbies coach remained understandably coy around finals prospects - given the side needs to win in New Zealand first.
"We're aware of it," Larkham admitted simply.
"Like every game in the season, you don't look any further ahead than the game that's ahead of you.
"We have to win this weekend first."
