Brumbies coach Jake White says his team has entered “knockout football” after edging one step closer to the Super Rugby finals with their win over the Hurricanes.

Their 30-23 victory on Friday night means they are possibly just one win away from securing their first Super Rugby finals berth since winning the championship in 2004.

However White understands the importance of his side finishing the regular season in at least second place, as the last time a team won the championship from outside the top two was in 1999 by the Crusaders.

That will require the third-placed Brumbies to win their final two matches and the second-placed Bulls to lose a couple of their four remaining South African derbies.

“What I told them in the change room was that this is like knockout football now,” White said.

“And that is what is so nice about this group, is these sort of results and the way we won is real knockout rugby.

“We had to fight to the end, every last minute to make sure we got a result.”

While next week’s match is against the 12th placed Rebels at Canberra Stadium, it will by no means be a cakewalk for the Brumbies as the men from Melbourne have won their past two games against quality opponents.

The Brumbies will also lose five of their best players to Wallabies camp – including skipper Ben Mowen – and possibly backrow enforcer Fotu Auelua after dislocating his shoulder on Friday night.

Their absence may cause a few selection headaches for White in the backrow and centre positions especially.

“It will be tough to sit back and know you can’t be a part of it,” Mowen said.

“But we’ve had a really good squad focus throughout the year, we’ve got some really high quality guys who have just been waiting for that chance.”

The Brumbies will be sure to watch Saturday night’s game between the Reds and the Rebels in a derby where their only remaining conference rivals will battle it out with their upcoming opponents.