"The Brumbies deserved to win the game today," said Waratahs coach Daryl Gibson. "They really capitalised on the pressure they were able to exert when they got in our 22. There were a couple of key moments they won.

"With our ball at crucial times in that second half we looked like we were putting some nice phases together but we let ourselves down there."

The deflating loss now puts the Waratahs at two wins and two losses for the season ahead of a clash against a red-hot Crusaders side on Saturday in Sydney.

After a good game against the Reds with a boot, Bernard Foley missed his first three kicks of the evening and left seven points out on the field, even if Michael Hooper did score a try from a rebound off the post.

At times there was more polish in the Waratahs’ back line but it was far from perfection. Service from Jake Gordon was mostly decent but the number of passes not to players’ chests was further evidence of early season rust.

Two errors in the 60th minute typified the Waratahs' back line problems.

Foley threw a pass well in front of Kurtley Beale, who somehow knocked it back. Two phases later, Beale threw a forward pass to Adam Ashley-Cooper that was pulled up. These were minor blips, to go with a number of other handling errors, that painted a sobering picture of a side yet to fully fire this season.

By the 76th minute,   Gibson had seen enough. He hooked Foley and brought on Mack Mason.

However, it was only fair the Waratahs skipper came away with the first try of the evening after retrieving a Foley penalty that came off the right post. While Lachlan McCaffrey should have done a better job at wrestling Hooper to the ground, the captain’s knack of being in the right place at the right time benefited his team.

Funnily enough, Foley’s conversion attempt hit the same post.

Enter Folau Faingaa. The Brumbies hooker barged over a back-tracking Waratahs line and then nine minutes later finished off a signature rolling maul to put the home side ahead 12-5.

Remarkably, Faingaa has now scored tries – six in total – in all of his five matches this season. The Brumbies set-piece blueprint favours Faingaa but his form certainly would be impressing Wallabies coach Michael Cheika; a keen onlooker from the stands at GIO Stadium.

McCaffrey, the former New South Welshman, led the charge for the Brumbies in the physicality stakes. He niggled Jake Gordon and Ned Hanigan before hurting his knee but got back up and soldiered on admirably.

The Brumbies dominated the half and the Waratahs were hampered five minutes from the break when Sekope Kepu was yellow carded for a blatant neck roll. His discipline this year has been particularly poor but luckily NSW didn’t suffer on the scoreboard being a man down.

An average defensive read from Brumbies winger Lausii Taliauli and a neat short pass from Israel Folau led to a try to Alex Newsome in the 49th minute but Foley’s third unsuccessful attempt ensured the Waratahs trailed by two points.

They woes were further compounded when the Brumbies went to their bread and butter rolling maul again. Scrambling men in blue were unable to prevent the Brumbies’ onslaught and they conceded a penalty try, with Harry Johnson-Holmes becoming the second NSW prop to be sent to the sin bin.

A Foley penalty reduced the deficit to six points but NSW were unable to crack a resolute Brumbies line and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.