Nic White and Peter Kimlin scored tries while Christian Lealiifano scored 20 points from the tee as the Brumbies defeated the Hurricanes at Canberra Stadium. The home team were made to fight all the way by a dogged and determined Hurricanes outfit that refused to buckle and heaped severe pressure on the hosts' line in the closing stages of the Super Rugby contest on Friday.

Brumbies captain Ben Mowen hailed an "outstanding effort from the boys", saying "we spoke about it at half-time; it as probably going to be the most important half a lot of us had played together".

"To get that win, it's super important for our season," Mowen said. "It allows the boys to really focus on the Rebels this coming week. The attitude tonight was outstanding. Times there we just had to graft. The patience just to make sure that if we're leaving that area we're taking three points."

Hurricanes captain Conrad Smith lamented ill-discipline, saying: "When we held the ball we played some pretty good footy ... a lot of penalties and we can't go blaming the ref all the time; that was our own mistakes a lot of the time, and discipline costs you. We've just got to take it on the chin."

The Brumbies started on the front foot, taking the game to the Hurricanes through a series of drives from their forward pack that clearly relished the early exchanges with their Kiwi counterparts. The opening 10 minutes was played exclusively in the Hurricanes half, with a brace of penalties, confidently slotted by Lealiifano, giving the hosts a handy 6-0 lead.

The Hurricanes hit back within two minutes of the second Lealiifano effort, reducing the arrears through a 45-metre penalty from fly-half Beauden Barrett, before the New Zealand place-kicker missed one from a similar range when attempting to tie the scores.

It was a costly miss but not as costly as the mistake made by visiting hooker Dane Coles 18 minutes from half-time: a lineout five metres from the Hurricanes line was criminally thrown too long by Coles and, lurking at the back of the lineout, Brumbies scrum-half White gleefully snaffled up the loose ball and burrowed over for the try. Lealiifano's conversion drifted wide of the posts.

The Hurricanes hit back with a vengeance. Shifting the ball from left to right, they created space for Rey Lee-Lo to crash through an attempted tackle and force his way over the line despite the attentions of a brace of Brumbies defenders. Barrett's successful conversion brought the Hurricanes back to within a point, visibly boosting their confidence.

The Brumbies went back to basics and won another scrum penalty, as the Hurricanes failed to handle the abrasive Brumbies eight, and Lealiifano stroked over his third successful kick with a minimum of fuss to give the home team a 14-10 half-time lead.

The Brumbies started the second half much as they began the first, on the front foot and taking the game to the Hurricanes. A rampaging run from Mowen was halted only when he was held up over the line, while Tevita Kuridrani dropped the ball in the act of reaching out to score - all in the opening four minutes of the stanza - and the Brumbies had to settle for a penalty from Lealiifano in front of the posts as the Hurricanes strayed offside.

The Brumbies were pegged back again when Barrett hit two penalties to bring his team back within striking distance, but Lealiifano responded in kind in the 55th minute and the match hit a scrappy phase with errors aplenty causing angst and frustration in the home support. Lealiifano eased the Brumbies further ahead with his sixth goal of the evening as light drizzle began to descend, and the match entered the final quarter.

There was a general consensus that the next score could prove crucial in the final reckoning, and the home team got it with 20 minutes to play. Having got within centimetres of the Hurricanes line, the Brumbies recycled ball and flanker Kimlin had the easiest of tasks to fall over the whitewash and claim the try. Lealiifano added the conversion to move the score to 30-16.

The Hurricanes weren't finished just yet, and scrum-half TJ Perenara gave them some hope, sniping over from the base of the scrum after concerted pressure, and Barrett's conversion put the match back into the melting pot. The Hurricanes poured forward in anticipation of stealing an unlikely draw, but the Brumbies defensive line held firm to record the victory.