The Swire Shipping Fijian Drua took the Brumbies to the wire in Canberra and went down fighting 28-20 in their Super Pacific Round 11 clash on Saturday night.
Playing under wet and slippery conditions, the Mick Byrne coached side conceded two tries in the opening 14 minutes to Wallabies centre Len Ikitau and Allan Alaalatoa.
Ikitau got another for the hosts before the Drua replied with a penalty from Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula and a try just before halftime to lock Isoa Nasilasila as they trailed 21-10 at the break.
Drua had tons of scoring chances in the third quarter of the match as the Brumbies gave away multiple penalties.
Replacement scrumhalf Simione Kuruvoli managed to cross over for their second try and a successful conversion from Armstrong-Ravula saw the score line narrowed to 21-17.
Luke Reimer came off the bench to score the Brumbies fourth and final try in the 66th minute.
Armstrong-Ravula kicked another penalty to keep Drua in the contest and a late surge of attacks from the visitors saw the Brumbies desperately protect their line to register the narrow victory.
Drua will head to Perth next week to face the Western Force in the next round on Saturday at 11.55pm (Fiji Time).
