It's the incredible stat hanging over the Brumbies ahead of their semifinal against the Chiefs in Hamilton this weekend, a dark cloud that has engulfed Australia's Super Rugby cohort throughout the competition's 27-year history.
At 0-14, the fact that no Australian team has ever won a finals match in New Zealand has proven to be the ultimate hurdle.
While the Brumbies have twice done the business previously in finals matches in South Africa, their 2014 triumph over the Bulls in Pretoria among the more memorable moments in the franchise's proud history, they remain winless in New Zealand through six playoff games.
"I saw a stat on the telly (TV) that no Australian team had won in 14 (finals) games in New Zealand and we definitely want to put an end to that," Brumbies back-rower Tom Hooper said earlier this week.
"Someone's got to be the first. So why can't it be us?"
For the record, ACT lost to the Blues in Auckland in the 1997 final, as well as the 2003 and 2022 semifinals; they went down to the Crusaders in Christchurch in the 2002 finale; they were beaten by the Chiefs in the 2013 decider in Hamilton; and one year later proved little match for the Hurricanes in another semifinal in Wellington.
And, as if that isn't enough, ACT were comprehensively smacked by the Chiefs late last month - the defeat coming at their Canberra stronghold to boot.
And so Saturday night's clash in Hamilton appears to be the Mount Kosciuszko of Australian rugby challenges, or rather an Aoraki summit that no Aussie Super outfit has yet had the pleasure of conquering across the Tasman.
"I think we learnt that when we make mistakes, they're obviously a quality New Zealand team that pounce on those mistakes and they can turn nothing into something," Hooper said of his team's loss to the Chiefs in the regular season.
"So we need to make sure that we need to reduce our ability to make those mistakes, and we also need a good A-zone [inside the attacking 22] completion. If we can get those two things right, I think we'll be firing.
"We weren't far off the mark, obviously the scoreboard said differently, but we've just got to make sure that we play our game plan, make sure we're holding onto the pill. And I think if we play a similar brand of footy we played against the Hurricanes, obviously step it up a week more into finals, if we step up and play a similar brand that we played, we'll get the job done."
If there is one small shred of hope for the Brumbies this week, it's the fact that the only team to beat the Chiefs so far this season, and on their home patch no less, is the Reds.
While that shock Queensland victory came against an understrength Chiefs side -- Clayton McMillan's team was without co-captains Sam Cane and Brad Weber, along with fellow All Blacks Brodie Retallick and Samisoni Taukei'aho -- the Reds just last weekend again seemingly provided the blueprint of how to trouble the two-time Super Rugby champions.
In employing a kick-heavy game plan, and backing their defence, the Reds made the Chiefs uncomfortable once more, and even managed multiple 50/22 punts that quickly turned defence into a set-piece platform from which they could attack.
In the end, however, the extra defensive work -- the Reds were forced to make 92 more tackles than the Chiefs -- eventually took its toll on Queensland as their hosts got a roll on through the middle of the paddock to claim a 29-20 win.
While the Brumbies are perhaps fortunate to find themselves in the semifinals after the hotly-debated no-try ruling against Ardie Savea, they were vastly improved from their previous two performances and Hooper said that they can adopt parts of the Reds plan to their own advantage.
"We watched Queensland and straight after the game I went and spoke to Palms [Dan Palmer] and said 'whatever the Reds did they obviously did it pretty well'. They beat them once and they went close last week," Hooper said.
"So we've got to see what the Reds did and then try and do it a little bit better and put own Brumbies spin on it, our own Brumbies charm, and hopefully that will do the job."
The stats are not entirely stacked against the Brumbies however, with ACT having last year beaten the Chiefs 38-28 in Hamilton. And then there is the added motivation that they have another chance to impress Wallabies coach Eddie Jones, when their fellow Test hopefuls are either already in camp on the Gold Coast or putting their feet up at home on the couch.
And the Brumbies have always been the Super Rugby history-makers for Australia, having been the first team to reach a final and then the first team to win one.
Perhaps ending a 14-game collective Australian finals drought over the ditch also lies in ACT's destiny?