Highland coach Jamie Joseph says there is no magic formula to getting his side out of its losing run - the team just has to keep working hard and sticking to its game plan.
''I don't think there is any secret recipe to get out of the rut. Set piece, get the ball, get over the gain line and hang on to the ball,'' Joseph said..
''What I am seeing is when the guys are trying to do that those little wee mistakes are creeping in. What I saw today was the guys did not get frustrated and stuck to the task. We did play some quality opposition.''
He said the side going 10 points down within the first five minutes gave it too steep a mountain to climb. It then conceded too many penalties to stay in the contest.
''The lesson is that when you go into games against quality teams you cannot afford to leak soft tries early on. You cannot afford to give penalties away as they are too good.''
The Highlanders tweaked their game plan last night, favouring the kick more, but it came up short. Jospeh said the thinking behind that was to try and upset the Brumbies tactics.
''They play field position and back their defence and are good at the breakdown. We did not want to play into their hands and run into a brick wall early in the game and lose confidence ... the second half we changed things a little bit.''
He pointed to the try scored by Brumbies winger Joe Tomane in the second half as a game changer. The Highlanders dropped the ball with three men unmarked on the outside, Tomane picked it up and ran away untouched.
Winger Kade Poki was the only major injury concern as he has appeared to have again damaged his ribs and left the field at the end of the first half.
Joseph had praise for his new inside back combination, saying Hayden Parker appeared to take the step up to this level, and gained confidence from his goalkicking.
He was pleased with the performance of halfback Fumiaki Tanaka, who he thought defended well, while the coach signalled out blindside flanker TJ Ioane, who has made the most of his opportunity.
He was relaxed about winger Hosea Gear not being awarded a try after the third match official ruled it out in a tight call.
Brumbies coach Jake White was immensely proud of his side and the defensive effort it put in.
He said it was never easy to come to New Zealand and win a game.
''There are 10 All Blacks in that side and to get a win in New Zealand is always massive. It does not matter who you play against,'' White said.
''We have prided ourselves [on our] strong defence ... at the end of the day we came here to get a win and that was very satisfying.''
White praised his senior players and said he was happy with the tightening of the Brumbies' defence and the massive turnaround from last week, when they had drawn with the Kings.