Melbourne halfback Georgia Cormick has kicked a conversion in the 81st minute to secure a Super W draw against the Brumbies.

Melbourne Rebels halfback Georgia Cormick has nailed a conversion after the fulltime siren to snatch a hard-earned 17-17 draw with the Brumbies in the Super W competition.

The Rebels looked down and out at AAMi Park on Friday evening, trailing by seven points with a minute remaining when Cormick made a late charge but spilt the ball.

But the Brumbies gave away a penalty at the breakdown as they attempted to chew up the remaining seconds.

Cormick took a tap and tireless Melbourne hooker Ashley Marsters charged toward the line.

Eirenei Nanai was then awarded a try after the home side hammered a hole in the Brumbies' defence with Test halfback Cormick stepping up to level the scores.

After a 66-5 shellacking by the Fijian Drua last round, the Rebels players celebrated like it was win.

"That was an absolute grind from the kick-off," said Melbourne skipper Mel Kawa.

"We knew it was going to come down to the wire and the last two times we've met we've just come up short so we've been fighting for this kind of result for a long time."

The Brumbies led 5-0 at halftime with the sole try scored by skipper Rebecca Smyth coming after they showed patience to work the ball through nine phases.

They should have had a much greater lead after dominating territory and possession.

But the Rebels got their tails up early in the second half, taking advantage of the Brumbies losing winger Jemima McCalman to a yellow-card for a high tackle on Jade Te Aute.

They levelled two minutes in through a rolling maul with flanker Michaela Maunsell scoring a try.

McCalman made amends with a 55th minute try, beating three defenders to score.

While Wallaroo Marsters then crossed to keep the Rebels in the hunt, it looked like they would fall short when Brumbies replacement Biola Dawa dotted down in the 70th minute.