The Brumbies conceded six scrum penalties in their Super Rugby AU opening round win over the Melbourne Rebels, with referee Angus Gardner penalising the hosts four times in the opening 20 minutes.

It was a frustrating outing for a forward pack which arguably boasts the best scrum in Australian rugby.

Now the Brumbies have a bye week to correct things before they collide with the NSW Waratahs at Sydney Olympic Park in round three.

"It wasn't good enough. Definitely an area to work on for us," Alaalatoa said.

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"I think it was a combination of a lot of things. It's definitely something for us we need to look at going forward, but we managed to get there towards the end.

"By then it's too late, we gave away six penalties and from our end that's not good enough.

"It was a combination, the first two were pre-engaged, and the first couple in the second half, we lost our footing there. There was one where we pushed them over the ball and we got pinged for that as well.

"It's kind of hard to know where Angus was thinking there, but for us giving those two away early on really painted the picture for him."

Brumbies coach Dan McKellar says conceding a try from a maul for the second time also was "not good enough" but was rapt with his side's maul attack.

Fans in the Canberra Stadium stands were few and far between with a cap of 1500 in place as the ACT government slowly eases restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Brumbies' next home game is on August 1, with McKellar hopeful the club will be able to welcome more fans through the turnstiles.

"I hope so, just for our families, our supporters, sponsors, just to be able to get here and enjoy the rugby again live. That'd be nice," McKellar said.

"We'll wait and see, they are important decisions to be made by the health authorities and they have done a pretty good job up to this point, Australia-wide. We'll wait and see."