The Melbourne Rising scored 26 points in the first 25 minutes of the game, then held on as the Vikings bombed second-half chances in a 34-13 win at AAMI Park.

Canberra is set to drop out of the top four by the end of the weekend and face an uphill battle to make the play-offs in the competition's inaugural season.

The one positive the Vikings can take is that they appear to unearth future stars, including Michael Hooper-lookalike Rowan Perry, rookie hooker Connal McInerney and scrum-half Joe Powell.

But the Vikings are also counting the costs of a brutal contest, with prop Jean-Pierre Smith suffering suspected fractured ribs and flanker Sean Doyle injuring the medial ligament in his knee.

Canberra will need to win its remaining three games to ensure it plays in the finals.

"We've lost a couple more bodies tonight, which makes it hard," coach Dan McKellar said.

"We've got some home games now and we'll be playing teams that are above us [on the ladder], but I'm not stressed about the ladder.

"Some young kids stood up, there was plenty of effort. We had our opportunities to win it in the second half but we didn't execute."

The opening exchanges against the Rising were not encouraging, leaking a point a minute as the home side skipped out to a 26-0 win.

McInerney made his starting debut in any form of senior rugby after spending the Canberra first grade season on the Tuggeranong bench.

But the Australian schoolboys rake held his own, while flanker Perry was impressive in his efforts and giant lock Rory Arnold was injected in the second half.

The Rising forward pack annihilated Canberra in the first half, using its 500-kilogram weight advantage to get the team on the front foot.

It was not until Robbie Coleman scored in the 30th minute that the bleeding stopped, giving the visitors the smallest glimmer of hope with the score 26-8 at half-time.

But Canberra continued to throw intercept passes, drop uncontested possession and make elementary errors.

The Rising had two players sent to the sin bin in the second half for repeated team infringements, but Canberra bombed their chances to get back into the contest.

The weight of possession was finally rewarded when winger Jerome Nuimata scored in the corner with 10 minutes left in the match, cutting the margin to 13 points, but it was too little too late.

McKellar backed Perry and McInerney for "big futures" but said they would have to wait patiently for a Super Rugby chance.

"I've got no doubt they'll go on, but they're young. They've got plenty of time," McKellar said.

MELBOURNE RISING 34 (Mitch Inman, Telusa Veainu, Jack Debreczeni, Paul Alo-Emile, Luke Burgess tries; Jack Debreczeni 3 conversions) bt CANBERRA VIKINGS 13 (Robbie Coleman, Jerome Nuimata try; Jesse Mogg conversion) at AAMI Park on Thursday night.