It was the Highlanders who made all the play early, looking to run the ball back at their opponents and attack through the midfield with Shaun Treeby and Tamati Ellison. In contrast, the Brumbies were content to kick in their own half and look to pounce on any mistakes by the Highlanders. They did this very well, shooting out to an early 17-3 lead despite having limited possession.
Joe Tomane ran in two tries, one from an intercept that was a 14-pointer in every sense of the word, and one which came from a Highlanders mistake after trying to play too much in their own half.
The Highlanders fought their way back into it and had the score back to 26-all in the last quarter of the game. Recent performances would have pointed towards the Highlanders closing the game out from here. But it wasn't to be this week, as the Brumbies showed great desperation to score once more and claim their third win in four weeks.
The game was won and lost in the loose. What has been such a strength for the Highlanders this year became their undoing as the new loose forward trio seemed to lack cohesion and were comprehensively outplayed by their opposites. Michael Hooper was particularly outstanding in this area for the Brumbies, picking the rucks he committed to and effecting a handful of turnovers which saw the Brumbies beat the Highlanders at their own game.
It was this skill at the breakdown that saw the Highlanders struggle to gain any momentum on attack, as they weren't able to string phases together to build a base to unleash from. Too often the support just wasn't there fast enough meaning players got isolated and the turnovers came. When they did have the ball they looked dangerous, but it's just too hard to mount a decent attack with such disrupted ball as was shown by the fact that despite all the chances, they only crossed for two tries.
The set piece struggled as the lineouts were once again a mess, while the scrum somewhat surprisingly was made to hang on by the skin of its teeth early before being penalised late in the game.
The backline looked good and at times played their best rugby of the season. Aaron Smith showed once more why many consider him to be the form halfback in the country with his sniping runs and excellent service. Outside him Colin Slade looked to be back at his best before his night, and likely season, was cruelly cut short by yet another injury.
Shaun Treeby was outstanding in his comeback match, constantly making inroads into the Brumbies defence, while outside him Tamati Ellison gave another top performance and remains one of the top midfielders in New Zealand.
The back three were dangerous on the counterattack and didn't have any problems with taking the Brumbies kicks.
But it was all done without any continuity. So often a break would be made only for the ball to be turned over. Just a reminder of the old saying, 'the game is won up front.'
Defensively it wasn't a great performance as the Brumbies were able to create mismatches which saw backs running at Highlander forwards seeing numerous breaks were made. Christian Lealifano was particularly outstanding, holding the ball for a second longer than would be expected to create confusion in the Highlanders defence.
But it's not all bad. It was inevitable that the winning streak was going to be snapped at some point. Every team will lose as some point in the season, with many of these being heavy losses. The Highlanders may have had a bad game, but the fact they still managed a bonus point should be a positive.
Also keep in mind that maybe a loss to the Brumbies in Canberra isn't as bad as most people may have thought. They have won three of their four games and look to be a very well-drilled team who could be the big overachievers of the competition.
What's important is that they learn from this. Look at what worked and keep doing it, but equally look to fix what needs attention.
It's a long season, there's going to be bumps in the road, it's how you recover from these bumps that determines where you are at the end of it and ultimately whether or not the season is a success.