The Brumbies have vowed to move on quickly from a last-round Super Rugby defeat to the Chiefs, as they prepare to host the Hurricanes in Friday's sudden-death quarter-final.
Saturday's 28-10 loss in Hamilton affected little for the Brumbies, who had already secured a home playoff by wrapping up the Australian conference before the June Test window.
They rested a host of stars for the dead rubber, with coach Stephen Larkham making 12 changes from last week's loss to Queensland.
The Chiefs were without All Blacks Brodie Retallick, Sam Cane and Anton Lienert-Brown, but were much closer to full strength than their opponents.
Chiefs fullback Damian McKenzie was outstanding with his blistering pace and skill at the heart of most of the home side's threatening play.
The Brumbies played some of the game a man down, with halfback Tomas Cubelli sin-binned for cynical play early in the second half.
"It was a tough one because it probably should have been me to go off, if anything, but him going off cost us dearly," stand-in captain Scott Fardy told AAP.
"It wasn't going to change what was going to happen next week so we'll just move on very quickly."
The Chiefs immediately drove their advantage home, with McKenzie sweeping it wide to winger Soloman Alaimalo, who crossed to make it 18-10.
Shortly after Cubelli's return, McKenzie extended the Chiefs' lead to 11 points with his third penalty goal.
McKenzie provided another try assist on 70 minutes, this time for Michael Leitch, and capped it with a sideline conversion to close out the match.
There were some encouraging signs for the young Brumbies, who defended well under heavy pressure in the second half.
"Effort's fantastic but we've got to be more clinical in the things we do around the field so we don't have to defend the whole game," Fardy said.
"You can't win a game defending and playing footy in your own half the whole game."
The Brumbies' loss means Australian Super Rugby sides have lost all 25 matches this season against New Zealand opposition.
Meanwhile, the Hurricanes booked their trip to Canberra by ending the Crusaders' unbeaten run with a 31-22 victory in Wellington.
The Brumbies were thrashed by the Hurricanes earlier in the season, conceding 42 unanswered points in a disastrous fadeout.
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