It was another semi final fall for the Brumbies and will be another all-Kiwi final to finish the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific season - but coach Stephen Larkham and Brumbies captain Allan Alaalatoa didn't hide where the side need to improving, cutting candid and honest figures post-match.
The Australian side's 37-17 semi final loss to the Chiefs in Hamilton marks the fourth consecutive semi final departure, and third under Larkham.
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The Brumbies coach didn't hide that his side came out second best against a resurgent home team, desperate to made amends for their qualifying final loss.
"There's lots of areas that fell down tonight, set-piece, kick-off receipt exits, things that we'll look at," the Brumbies coach said to reporters.
"I thought the physicality and the accuracy of the breakdown was pretty good. I thought their mindset coming into the game was good.
"We were certainly very clear on the way that we wanted to play off the back of some opposition over the last three games that played similarly.
"There's frustration because it's the same story as last year and we've had this story for more than two years in a row now. It's not a good feeling getting this far in the competition and not getting to the final hurdle.
"I thought they [the Chiefs] played really well tonight.
"There were certain areas of their game that they nullified our game quite well and made it very difficult, when we needed to hold the ball in those conditions against that opposition. They played really well."
The head coach's thoughts were echoed by Alaalatoa - despite matching the Chiefs for tries, key moments of discipline and errors let the Brumbies down (being on the end of an 11-6 penalty count), with All Black star Damian McKenzie proving the difference on the scoreboard with a solid night off the boot.
"I certainly thought we were well in the fight, which comes off the back of physicality and the intensity that Steve was talking about, especially throughout the first half, early stages of the second half," Alaalatoa admitted.
"It probably did come down to little moments and being accurate in those moments. Probably trying to push our hand a bit when we wanted to score tries or to exit our end and the Chiefs capitalised on that. So, yeah, we were disappointed in those little areas."
The Brumbies were hampered by the early departure of Noah Lolesio, whose tactical kicking game has proven a major positive for go-forward in 2025 - but even with a solid back up option in Jack Debreczeni, Larkham admitted the Chiefs approach of building a lead helped contribute to the pressure.
"They probably just didn't hurt us as much as they could have if they went to the corner," Larkham admitted.
"They slowly amassed a lead.
"We scored straight after half-time, missed the conversion, which put us within two points. Then they score and if then Wrighty scores off the kick-off, we're still sort of there.
"They kept that score ticking over.
"There's a point in the game where it becomes untenable for us to come back and score in those conditions, where you've got to try and hold the ball when our set-piece is letting us down a little bit. You have to rely on your multi-phase attack and it was tough conditions to do that.
"We've got a quality team who puts a lot of pressure at the break down across the park. Then there's results of a kicking game and I thought that contest tonight was pretty much in favour of the Chiefs.
"The kick contests, that ability to hold the ball for multiple phases and then a really good kick contest, the two areas that I thought they were really good in stopping us."
The loss takes Australia's losing record in Kiwi finals to 0-21 - but Larkham pushed back on claims that the previous results had a psychological impact leading into the performance.
"I genuinely think at some stage in the game, the guys realised that we couldn't win this. Two minutes to go, you know it's obvious that you can't win the game," Larkham explained.
"But psychologically, I thought we were in a good place.
"Our preparation was really good. The build into this game from the other games that we've played was really good.
"I don't know that that was a factor of the conversation with individuals, but we've certainly spoken a lot about making sure that doesn't come into it.
"It's hard to play away from home. Whether it's in Australia or New Zealand, it's hard to play away from home. There is an advantage to the home side."
The Brumbies will look to identify the issues that went wrong across the season - with Larkham confirming plans were in place for a full review.
Unlike 2024, the side will have to dust themselves off quickly - with their clash against the British & Irish Lions less than a month away.
"We'll go back and do exactly what we did last year," Larkham said candidly.
"Coming out of the Blues game semi-final last year, we identified certain areas, not just that game, but leading up to that game, that weren't where they needed to be.
"We spent a lot of time off-season around our set piece, making sure we devoted enough time in the program to make that better.
"We'll do the same thing.
"We'll go through the process of identifying what wasn't robust, what wasn't good enough yet, and then just spend enough time, hopefully in the pre-season, off-season, in-season next year to put us in a better position next year.
"The British and Irish Lions game for us is pretty close around the corner, so I think we'll dust this game off first and give the boys a bit of an opportunity to clear their heads, give them a bit of space, and then come back in.
"We'll have a short prep going into that, but obviously it's a great opportunity for us to play against the British and Irish Lions side.
"They're probably going to be stacked for our game, knowing that the game, their first test match is 10 days later.
"We'll run the same program that we've been running into this game and just see if we can do it better."
