The Brumbies have kept their season alive with a vital 29-12 bonus point win over the Queensland Reds in their round 12 Investec Super 14 clash at Canberra Stadium on Saturday night.
The Brumbies came out with the enthusiasm and aggression which had been lacking in recent weeks with their season on the line and the Reds hardly had a sniff.
Queensland's star playmakers Quade Cooper and Will Genia were targeted from the outset and they weren't able to terrorise their opponents as they have done all season.
It was compounded by the loss of forward pairing Adam Byrnes and Rob Simmons within the first half hour and the Brumbies' line outs and scrums were dominant from there on.
Early on the Reds gave away a costly penalty close to goal in the eighth minute and Stephen Hoiles opted for the scrum instead of a certain three points.
After a second penalty and second scrum moments later, the ball went wide to Brumbies lock Mark Chisholm at pace who overpowered two defenders to score. Giteau converted to give the Brumbies an early 7-0 lead.
A Saia Faingaa line break put the Reds deep in Brumbies' territory but Stephen Moore won the turn over and a clever Matt Giteau kick found touch on half way.
The Brumbies and Giteau started to hit their straps and were awarded another penalty close to the Reds' line and again opted to try their luck with the scrum.
Again it paid dividends, Giteau ran the ball metres from the line in the fourth phase, it then ended up with Ben Alexander who stepped through the defence to score.
But the Brumbies gave away two cheap penalties which Cooper slotted to narrow the gap to 14-6 with five minutes left in the half.
The Brumbies attacked the line hard late in the half but a Genia steal saved a near certain try and Giteau missed an easy penalty after the siren.
Reds came out with vigour in the second half, starting to hold possession and forcing the Brumbies to defend. An early penalty had them within a converted try and in it up to their necks.
Cooper's fourth penalty in the 52nd minute narrowed the gap to two.
The Brumbies scored a much needed try to stem the flow, they spread the ball to Adam Ashley-Cooper out wide who broke the line before Josh Valentine picked up the ball and darted through an easy passage to score.
Minutes later a chance for a bonus point went begging, Rocky Elsom bustling his way through a gap at pace and running at the last defender and had Ashley-Cooper held on to his pass he would have scored untouched.
The Reds' line was under siege as the Brumbies looked for the match winner, with Ashley-Cooper nearly making amends, brought down just short by desperate defence.
The Brumbies' scrum was dominant and they were awarded a penalty with 13 minutes to go and Giteau kicked truly to make sure of the result.
Huia Edmonds was the culprit as the Brumbies squandered another bonus point chance, dropping the ball over the line with a pick and go attempt.
They finally got their bonus point with seven minutes left, after winning the line out quick hands by Mitchell Chapman put Ben Alexander over for his second try of the night and sixth for the season.
Brumbies 32
Tries: Chisholm, Alexander 2, Valetine
Con: Giteau 3/4
Pen: Giteau 2/3
Reds 12
Pen: Cooper 4/4
Crowd: 18,023