ACT Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham is prepared to put faith in his starting line-up this week, despite admitting the team failed to make smart decisions in its round-one loss to the Queensland Reds.
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Brumbies director of rugby Laurie Fisher has also backed Jesse Mogg to make amends for his 77th-minute fumble that led to the Reds scoring the match-winning try in their 27-17 win at Canberra Stadium on Saturday.
Larkham admitted basic errors cost the Brumbies any chance of victory. They wasted 70 per cent of attacking field position in the second half and made 18 handling errors.
But skipper Ben Mowen says they want to play an attacking style to give their try-scoring weapons a chance to do some damage against the Western Force this week.
The Brumbies turned down six penalty shots to chase tries against Queensland.
''When you feel like you're about to pop a side, you've got to back yourself in those moments,'' he said. ''We want to play creatively … you've got to give your guys opportunities [to score tries].''
Larkham and Fisher will likely resist any temptation to tinker with combinations for the clash against the Force in Perth on Saturday night.
Mogg's uncharacteristic error with time running out led to Reds flyer Chris Feauai-Sautia scoring the clincher.
Mogg dropped a down-field kick, then fumbled it twice before Feauai-Sautia swooped. But the attacking fullback also scored the Brumbies' only try and was held up in the first half when across the line.
''If you drop the ball you've got to solve the problem,'' Fisher said.
''[Mogg] won't feel good about that, but I'd be surprised if you see something like that again from him, he's an outstanding footballer.''
First-year coach Larkham insisted the Brumbies could ''get rid of the bad stuff'' to topple the Force.
''Having a game at home was definitely a benefit in round one but we lost that opportunity to start our season well … We don't need to change too much, but we need to understand that our decisions have to be smarter this week,'' he said.
The Brumbies haven't lost a round-one match since losing to the Canterbury Crusaders in the opening game of the 2008 campaign. It was just the second time since 2001 the club has failed to win its first game of the season.
The Brumbies had their chances to clinch victory, spending most of the second half inside their attacking zone, but made too many errors to score points.
''Everyone made mistakes, it's a matter of maintaining the good stuff and getting rid of the bad stuff,'' Larkham said.
''But we expect to learn from mistakes after one game … we dominated all the stats. Some of the penalties the Reds gave away were disappointing, we couldn't get any momentum.
''I'd certainly like to give the same combinations another run. You're bound to make mistakes in round one, but you expect a team of this experience will bounce back straight away.''
The Brumbies kicked less than the Reds and gave away fewer penalties, but their performance lacked the polish that got them to the Super Rugby final last season.