The Highlanders slumped to their seventh loss to start the season last night at Forsyth Barr Stadium, losing 30-19 to the Brumbies.
With that loss, they have notched up the worst run of defeats in a season in the franchise's history.
In a game which never reached any heights, the Highlanders showed little accuracy on attack and, once again, did not value the ball enough. At this point of the season, it is hard to see where a win is going to come from.
The Brumbies will never go down in history as the most entertaining side but they were clinical in all they did, and that was all that was needed against a misfiring Highlanders unit.
The home team tried hard but it has too many out-of-form players, who made sloppy errors and failed to create much on attack.
The Highlanders tried to change their game plan and kicked the ball more often, but that barely rattled the Brumbies who soaked up the little thrown at them.
The Highlanders were beaten at the breakdown and lacked numbers at times at the collision area as too many forwards failed to get over the advantage line.
In addition, luck was not on their side.
Hosea Gear appeared to score a try in the dying minutes of the first half but, after a long, hard look, third match official Keith Brown ruled the winger had knocked the ball on.
It was a knife-edge call but such is the way the cards are falling for the Highlanders it was always going to be a no-try.
The side tried hard in the second half but, when Brumbies winger Joe Tomane, scored from a poor pass from the Highlanders, the game was all but over as the home team went 18 points behind.
Best for the Highlanders was flanker TJ Ioane, who ran hard all day.
The Brumbies just soaked up any pressure they faced. Their best was flanker George Smith and No 8 and skipper Ben Mowen.
The Highlanders made a nightmare start when the Brumbies scored after just two minutes.
Winger Henry Speight got on the outside of Hosea Gear and went over after some solid work inside him.
It only got worse when veteran Smith forced a penalty in a breakdown and Lealiifano knocked over the resulting penalty.
The Highlanders found themselves 10 points down with barely five minutes gone.
Hayden Parker had a chance to score his first points at this level on the 10-minute mark and proceeded to put the ball between the posts to give his team some points on the scoreboard.
He then added another penalty five minutes later as the Highlanders came back into the match.
The kick was dominating the early stages of the match as both sides tested each other out.
Parker then added his third penalty after 22 minutes and the Highlanders found themselves just one point behind.
The match was more and more resembling a game of forceback as the teams looked to find territory and gave each other the ball.
But the kicking battle was stopped after 31 minutes when the Brumbies won a lineout 5m out and the ball ended up in the hands of Smith who put on a nice step to go over.
Lealiifano added the extras to give the visitors a good lead.
The Highlanders though grabbed a consolation when Parker adding his fourth penalty after the halftime whistle to give a 17-12 lead to the visiting side at the break.
Super 15
The scores
Brumbies ... 30
Henry Speight, George Smith, Joe Tomane tries, Christian Lealiifano 3 con, 2 pen, Nic White pen
Highlanders ... 19
Aaron Smith try, Hayden Parker 4 pen, con
Halftime: 17-12
Crowd: 11,835
