Brumbies fullback Tom Banks scored a brilliant late try as the Australian side claimed a 38-28 victory over the Bulls in their Super Rugby clash at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

For the second week running the Brumbies finished the game with 14 players, after a deserved red card for hooker Folau Fainga'a, but after folding in similar circumstances last time out against the Lions, it this time appeared to spur them on.

Their other tries came via centre Kyle Godwin, flank Lachlan McCaffrey, Fainga'a and wing Andy Muirhead to keep their extremely slim play-off hopes alive.

The Bulls, meanwhile, will be rueing missed opportunities as they grabbed tries via fly-half Handre Pollard, flank Roelof Smit and wing Johnny Kotze, and now face an uphill battle to make the knockout rounds.

The Bulls grabbed the opening try inside five minutes when Kotze broke through the Brumbies defensive line and fed Pollard to score. But the Canberrra-based side hit back almost immediately, collecting possession from the kick-off as flank David Pocock fed Godwin to score.

Fly-half Christian Leali'ifano kicked a penalty to put the visitors in front, but they, too, could not hold the lead for long as two minutes later the Bulls scored a thrilling second try.

Kotze again started the move with a break, before centre Burger Odendaal set Smit free to power over the line.

The Bulls set up a succession of driving mauls as they dominated the first half, but excellent defence from the Brumbies saw their efforts held short of the line and the hosts took a 14-10 lead into halftime.

The Brumbies made a much better start to the second half as scrumhalf Joe Powell picked up the ball at the base of a ruck, spotted a wide gap in the Bulls defence and fed McCaffrey to canter over next to the posts.

A penalty against Brumbies prop Scot Sio at a scrum allowed Pollard to level the scores, before the home side hit the front again when clever play from fullback Warrick Gelant set Kotze away for a deserved try.

Pollard extended the lead to eight points with another penalty, but the Brumbies stayed in the game with some powerful carries before Fainga'a burrowed his way over.

The Brumbies then lost a player to a red card for the second time in as many weeks, when Fainga'a, penalised for diving into a ruck, landed two head-butts on Bulls debutant Matthys Basson just past the hour-mark.

Pollard kicked the resultant penalty, but Banks gave the visitors the lead with a scintillating score as he showed tremendous pace to score from 60-metres.

And the points were safe for the visitors when Muirhead was put into space out wide and he raced clear to score a try in the corner.