Knowing there's no place like home, the high-flying ACT Brumbies are hoping it's now all smooth sailing to an all-important Super Rugby Pacific top-two finals berth.
The Brumbies' impressive 24-0 defeat of Moana Pasifika in New Zealand on Saturday, in what was the competition's first defensive shut-out by any team in 2025, completed a gruelling travel schedule for Stephen Larkham's side.
Larkham is delighted to have emerged from six away games with a 4-2 winning record, resulting in third place on the ladder entering a more comfortable stretch of four matches in five weeks back in Canberra before the playoffs.
"It's exciting to be back home. We've pretty much done most of our travel for the year now," Larkham said on Tuesday.
"We've got one game against the (Western) Force that we have to travel to (Perth for), but everything else is going to be at home.
"It's certainly going to be smoother now, having seven-day turnarounds into every game till the finals."
With their fifth-placed NSW rivals on the other side of the spectrum with a series of away games to come, Larkham reckons it's advantage Brumbies ahead of their hosting of the Hurricanes on Saturday, then the Waratahs, Queensland Reds and Crusaders.
"Having four of the next five at home is certainly going to help us in terms of our preparation," he said.
"It was a tough start to the season. There are other teams that have had tougher starts to the season, and then equally there's some Australian teams who now have to travel a fair bit in the back end of the season.
"But getting over to Fiji and then two games in New Zealand on the trot and to come away from those games quite well, we're certainly in a good position at the moment.
"Disappointed that we lost to the Force here at home, and then we lost to the Waratahs up in Sydney. Those were the two games that probably hurt us more than anything else.
"Outside of those two results, we've had a pretty good year."
A win over the Reds in Brisbane and a first victory over the defending champion Blues in Auckland have also helped the Brumbies to a superior points differential than all but the table-topping Chiefs and second-placed Crusaders.
"I'm very conscious of where we sit on the ladder," Larkham said.
"Third at the moment and the two teams on top are four points ahead of us.
"So your points differential will certainly come into it, particularly when you talk about a top-two finish and that gives you a home semi-final. That's what we've spoken about for the last couple of years.
"With only five games to go, we've got five of the top-seven teams now to play against.
"So there's an opportunity for us to go further ahead against these teams, or they can sort of peg back some points on the ladder.
"When you're playing the teams that are just below you, it's almost like a double-point game."
