Wayward Brumbies in hole as pace-setting Chiefs kick clear in Super Rugby Pacific

The ACT Brumbies are in an unfamiliar early-season hole after being outgunned 49-34 by the competition-leading Chiefs on Saturday.

The Brumbies matched the Chiefs' six tries in hard and fast conditions in Hamilton but were wayward with the boot.

The visitors were only able to land two of six conversion attempts while the Chiefs nailed eight of nine shots at goal, including three penalties.

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Anton Lienert-Brown and Gideon Wrampling scored doubles for the Chiefs while Andy Muirhead nabbed a brace for the Brumbies.

Stephen Larkham's side is now 1-2 after three rounds, the same number of losses it suffered in last year's 12-2 regular season.

The Brumbies were right in the fight at 15-15 at half-time and 29-29 after 62 minutes.

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But they failed to deal with the Chiefs' kick-off after Muirhead's second try and substitute Wrampling landed a decisive blow.

"We were looking for an improved performance from last week, mainly around little areas that people don't see," Brumbies captain Allan Alaalatoa said.

"And I thought that we got that in large passages but I thought that we probably just weren't clinical down on our end, around our kick-off receipt.

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"Really proud and it's just great to see how much the boys love playing for the Brumbies and putting out that effort.

"There's lots of hands on knees there at the end and you could tell that we left it all out there. But we've just got to be more clinical."

The Brumbies will stay on in New Zealand ahead of a date with defending champions the Blues in Auckland on Friday.

"I think it's great for our connection, especially early in the season, it's awesome," Alaalatoa said.

"We don't normally get that time together, playing back-to-back away games, so always good to make the most of that and enjoy each other's company."

The 3-0 Chiefs, meanwhile, are off to Fiji for a clash with the winless Drua in Lautoka next Saturday, and will be boosted by the return of outside back Shaun Stevenson from Japan.

But the health of Damian McKenzie will be a concern after the star playmaker lay on the ground and required medical attention before making his way off with eight minutes left.

He had an ice pack applied and was gingerly making his way through the post-game handshakes after a high scoring encounter where Josh Lord (fifth minute) and Quinn Tupaea (69th minute) were also forced from the field with injury, offsetting the return of Samisoni Taukei'aho from his nine month Achilles tendon rupture layoff.

The Brumbies, coming off a shock 45-42 home loss to the Force, proved a dangerous beast, and it took the Chiefs until the death to close it out, with Josh Jacomb nailing a penalty with five minutes to play to put the margin out to eight, before Lienert-Brown grabbed his second try right on fulltime.

Chiefs 49 (Lienert-Brown 2, Wrampling 2, Jacomb, Tupaea tries; McKenzie 4 con, 2 pen; Jacomb con, pen) Brumbies 34 (Muirhead 2, Frost, Meredith, Toole, L Lonergan tries; Debreczeni 2 con)

- with Stuff