It was the last home match of the season for a host of departing Brumbies players, and they farewelled the Canberra faithful in style through a convincing 32-17 victory over the Melbourne Rebels on Friday night.
The Brumbies entered the match against their Victorian opposition, trying to record their first back-to-back victories in a desperately disappointing 2011 season.
The hosts began with purpose, enterprise and an attacking flair that has been absent for most of the season.
Some good early field position and sharp passing led to Christian Lealiifano scoring after five minutes although Matt Giteau missed the conversion.
The Brumbies were on the back foot five minutes later after a Julian Huxley field goal rebounded off the posts and the resulting scramble almost saw Giteau turn the ball over in his own in goal.
In the end, the Brumbies were lucky to escape with only conceding a penalty goal from Danny Cipriani.
But tthat was the last genuine opportunity for the Rebels for the half as Canberra dominated the final 25 minutes.
A Giteau penalty in the 19th minute put the Brumbies up 8 – 3 before another sharp attacking raid to the right wing saw Tyrone Smith send off Cooper Vuna for a Brumbies' try in the 24th minute.
Six minutes later, the Brumbies received a penalty 10 metres outside the Rebels' try line and Giteau, in his last appearance at Canberra Stadium, took a quick tap and caught the Rebels napping to score a sneaky try and then conversion for an 18-3 lead at the break.
The Brumbies picked up where they left off after the break, taking just two minutes to go back into attack when Steven Moore's line break led to Pat McCabe crossing the line and giving Giteau an easy conversion.
The Brumbies sought to press their advantage, opting not to take several easy penalty kick opportunities.
However, despite a mountain of possession they couldn't break the committed Rebels' defence line.
Mark Gerrard showed some creativity to put the Rebels close to the line but it was another ex-Brumbie, Stirling Mortlock, whose powerful run finally broke through, resulting in a Jarrod Saffy try.
Seven minutes later Saffy burst onto a clever Cipriani inside ball to put Afusipa Taumoepeau over. The resulting conversion saw the Rebels close the gap to eight points.
But any hope the Rebels had of a late comeback were put to rest when Moore scored a pushover try three minutes later. Giteau added the extras to ensure the Brumbies finished their season at home with a 15-point win.