The Hurricanes' grand final hopes have suffered a big blow with a 12-10 Super Rugby Trans-Tasman defeat to ACT Brumbies in Canberra.
Jordie Barrett missed two late penalty goal attempts and Alex Fidow had a try controversially disallowed for what would've been a crucial victory, but the Brumbies held on for their first win of the campaign and the Australian teams' second victory.
The defeat leaves the Wellington side on 16 competition points, three behind the Blues atop the table, and two behind the Highlanders and Crusaders.
They'll need to defeat the Reds next weekend and hope two of the teams above them lose, if they are to claim a spot in the final in two weeks.
Hurricanes came into the contest with the chance to put their hopes in their own hands, if they could claim a bonus-point victory in the Aussie capital, but the Brumbies defence was resolute to claim a two-tries-to-one victory.
The visitors struggled with the ball in hand, but captain Dane Coles was industrious all night with 13 tackles, 35 carry metres and Julian Savea looked back to his rampaging best with six runs for 72 metres, beating five defenders.
The home side made all the early running and after a period of sustained pressure, the Brumbies struck first, when halfback Ryan Lonergan sniped from a metre out to open the scoring.
The lead only lasted six minutes, before the Hurricanes hit back through Coles, who broke off a lineout maul to bulldoze his way over to level the scores.
The contest swung in the 23rd minute, when Hurricanes flanker Du’Plessis Kirifi was sent to the sin bin for his shoulder tackle on Darcy Swain's head. The Brumbies lock failed his head injury assessment and was ruled out of the contest.
The Hurricanes showed resolute defence and controlled the 10-minute period to limit any damage while Kirifi was off.
The highlight of the Brumbies performance was their defence, which stifled the Hurricanes attack all night and in a sign that the visitors knew they were in for a battle, captain Ardie Savea choose to take a shot at goal instead of go for a lineout late in the half.
Barrett nailed a long-range penalty goal to hand the Wellington side a 10-7 lead at the break.
After a cagey start to the second stanza, the Brumbies struck first, when halfback Nic White threw a subtle backwards flick pass to Len Ikitau, who bounced off two defenders to hand the home side a 12-10 lead.
The Brumbies defence continued to frustrate the Hurricanes, as the visitors spent more time going backwards than creating any meaningful chances.
The Hurricanes looked like they had stolen the contest out of nothing, when prop Alex Fidow stormed through the Brumbies defence to score under the posts, but replays showed a knock-on from Ardie Savea in the lead-up to disallow the five-pointer.
With time winding down, the Brumbies gave away an offside penalty on halfway to hand Barrett the chance to claim a late victory, but the normally reliable kicker pushed his attempt to the left.
As the Brumbies looked to keep it tight and run the clock down, the Hurricanes won a crucial penalty inside the 22, but up against the lefthand touchline.
All eyes turned to Barrett again, as he attempted his penalty goal attempt, but pushed it to the right to the delight of the Brumbies players and fans.
Brumbies 12 (R Lonergan & Ikitau tries; Lolesio conversion) Hurricanes 10 (Coles try; Barrett conversion & penalty)
Join us at 5pm Sunday for live updates of the Highlanders v Rebels Super Rugby Trans-Tasman clash
