The shell-shocked Brumbies were looking for answers after their Super 14 rugby finals hopes took a pounding with a record 56-7 loss to the Hurricanes in Wellington on Saturday.

It was the first time the Brumbies had ever conceded 50 or more points in the Super tournament and easily their biggest losing margin.

The Canberra based franchise's previous biggest loss was a 34 point defeat, 44-10, to NSW in Sydney in 1996, the first year of the tournament.

The points conceded also eclipsed their previous largest amount of 49, also inflicted by the Hurricanes in Wellington four years ago.

The Brumbies have slipped to eighth following the Western Forces' victory over the Lions on Friday night and are seven points behind the Hurricanes who have moved up to first.

While the Brumbies refused to concede their finals hopes had been extinguished by the thrashing, the result is a huge setback after three successive wins.

Brumbies coach Andy Friend felt there was perhaps more to the lacklustre performance than simply the emotional toll of the last two weeks catching up with the team following the tragic death in South Africa of their team mate Shawn Mackay.

"That's probably the easy answer to say that, but I think that possibly there are some other issues that we need to address," Friend said.

"A lot of blokes seem to be very flat, we need to find out why. I felt our preparation was good but the performance obviously didn't indicate that."

There was no indication of the carnage to come after the visitors scored the first seven points through an early converted try to prop Ben Alexander.

But they then conceded eight tries, four in each half, as the Hurricanes powered on 56 unanswered points.

Following a penalty to five-eighth Willie Ripia, the Hurricanes scored four first half tries in twenty minutes through Cory Jane, centre Conrad Smith and wingers Tamati Ellison and David Smith.

The unstoppable Hurricanes maintained their onslaught after the break with replacement back Zac Guildford scoring two tries and forwards Falfili Levave and Victor Vito each crossing once.

The Hurricanes produced an irresistible mixture of speed, strength, skill and finesse to blow the Brumbies away.

Several of their tries came from sweeping moves and classy ball movement.

Powerful centre Ma'a Nonu was particularly damaging, while fullback Jane was also consistently dangerous.

Six of the Hurricanes' tries were scored by backs as they continually stretched the Brumbies out wide, while the home side also reigned at the breakdown, forcing numerous turnovers.

Captain and No.8 Stephen Hoiles said while the Hurricanes backs scored plenty of tries out wide, he felt the match was won at the breakdown.

The Hurricanes forced numerous turnovers and Friend conceded his side was swamped at the breakdown.

"I thought physically at the breakdown we were completely beaten to the ball, I thought they really dominated us there," Friend said.

The porous defensive effort by the Brumbies was especially disappointing given they had placed a great pre-match emphasis on that aspect of the game.

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