Defiant playmaker Matt Giteau maintains the Brumbies can still make the Super Rugby playoffs despite slumping to a fourth straight defeat in the proud franchise's worst-ever start to a campaign.

The Brumbies' season is teetering on the brink of ruin after a despairing 29-22 loss to the NSW Waratahs in Canberra compounded their well-documented woes.

The team's fortunes have failed to improve since the round-two sacking of coach Andy Friend and classy utility back Adam Ashley-Cooper is tipped to announce this week that he's following France-bound Giteau out of the national capital next season.

Giteau, though, believes the two-time Super champions can dig deep and make the finals from 10th place, with 12 competition points, after six games in the 18-round competition.

"We have to move forward," Giteau said.

"We have another game on Friday night playing (the Highlanders). We just need to regroup.

"We were saying just after the game there are still 11 games where we can get points, so we have to just stay tight as a group."

The Brumbies have now lost narrowly to the Waratahs, Melbourne Rebels and Queensland Reds to be third in the Australian conference, with only the top side from each division guaranteed a finals berth.

"The beauty of this competition is the three teams, especially the Australian teams we have lost to, we get a chance to play them again," Giteau said.

"(If) we beat them, we're back. There is still a lot to play for and that is what the group feels."

The Reds (22pts) surged to outright second and four points clear of the Waratahs in the Australian conference with a 41-8 bonus-point win over the last-placed Cheetahs (7pts) in Brisbane.

Five-eighth Quade Cooper once again starred in the Reds' seven-try rout, Queensland's record seventh successive home win.

The front-running Stormers (25pts) crushed the Western Force 51-16 in Cape Town to remain the only unbeaten team after six rounds.

The Force (11pts) slipped to third-last but have the chance to climb up the Australian conference ladder in the next three weeks with looming derbies against the Rebels, Waratahs and Brumbies.

The Blues (20pts) are third after a late Luke McAlister penalty earned the Aucklanders a 16-13 victory over the 11th-placed Chiefs (11pts) in Hamilton.

Sitaleki Timani's winning try over the Brumbies with nine seconds left on the clock lifted the Waratahs (18pts) to fifth, while the defending champion Bulls (17pts) rose to seventh after completing a season double over the neighbouring Lions with a 30-23 victory in Pretoria.

The enigmatic Rebels (11pts) moved up to 12th with a spirited 42-25 comeback win over the ninth-placed Hurricanes (12pts) in Melbourne.

The fourth-placed Sharks (19pts) and sixth-placed Crusaders (17pts) were looking to consolidate their positions in the finals zone when they met early on Monday morning (AEDT) in their historic Super Rugby clash at Twickenham.

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