Watch every second of the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season live and on demand via Stan Sport.<\/a><\/p>\nSo what did we learn?<\/p>\n
1. Ship steady in the ACT<\/p>\n
The Brumbies are slowly finding the form that saw them as contenders at the start of the year.<\/p>\n
Their defence was rock solid, making over 200 tackles and turning the Waratahs over at crucial times.<\/p>\n
They look fresher off the bye, and they needed to be, stepping up to secure their spot in the top six, even if they were made to work for it.<\/p>\n
A final-round clash against Moana Pasifika can build momentum, although it\u2019s a dangerous game in what could be Moana\u2019s farewell.<\/p>\n
2. Wright back to best<\/p>\n
Tom Wright showed plenty of signs of the world-class talent that lit up Test Rugby in the gold jersey.<\/p>\n
He was on early and should\u2019ve had a try assist to Kadin Pritchard if not for a Jack Bowen wonder try-saver. The fullback was the main culprit in causing Charlie Gamble\u2019s yellow card, combining with David Feliuai and directing the centre into running the right lines. <\/p>\n
Even his smarts to quickly take the goal-line dropout came up trumps as he bombed it 50 metres into touch and safety.<\/p>\n
Wright said during the week he wouldn\u2019t let his extended time on the sidelines affect his decision-making and it came up triumphs.<\/p>\n
The battle with Max Jorgensen was excellent, with the Waratahs fullback coming up with his own individual brilliance.<\/p>\n
3. Fight till the end<\/p>\n
The NSW Waratahs couldn\u2019t get the job done but you certainly can\u2019t say they didn\u2019t fire a shot.<\/p>\n
They were throwing the ball around, trying everything to find a way over the line, however that was the problem.<\/p>\n
It took double-digit entries into the Brumbies 22 before they came away with their first points, and when they did get on a roll, it was too late.<\/p>\n
The fight shown was admirable, with several big try-savers keeping them in the battle.<\/p>\n
However, that performance sums up their way; creating plenty but nothing to show.<\/p>\n
4. Big Al\u2019s fitting milestone\u00a0<\/p>\n
Not many are more deserving of a fitting milestone try than Allan Alaalatoa as the Brumbies warrior delivered again.<\/p>\n
It was one of its typical one-metre tries but it was his work beforehand that was critical.<\/p>\n
He sparked their attack early in the first half with a rare line break that nearly led to the opener. His scrummaging was on point all night, drawing a continual flow of penalties.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s one of the most important men for the Wallabies in 2026.<\/p>\n
5. SOS out in NSW<\/p>\n
Attention everyone, can you play hooker at a professional level? Well, the Waratahs need you after another hooker injury.<\/p>\n
Ioane Moananu came into the game with a knee injury; however, he limped off the field midway through the second half, leaving them with none of the contracted hookers fit for next week\u2019s trip to Perth.<\/p>\n
Oniti Finau has stepped in with Ethan Dobbins and Folau Fainga\u2019a out, with coach Dan McKellar likely having to call back into Shute Shield for another replacement. <\/p>\n
Ken Catchpole Medalist Wes Thomas and Australia U20s hooker Tyler Maybery are among the options.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The ACT Brumbies held tough in the final moments to all but end the NSW Waratahs’ season with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":687776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[58864,64,63,32951,760,85,48013],"class_list":["post-687775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-act-brumbies","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nsw-waratahs","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-super-rugby-pacific"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=687775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/687776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=687775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=687775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=687775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}