The critics could point to the night the ACT Brumbies surrendered a 17-point lead as reason to doubt Super Rugby AU's reigning champions.
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But stand-in Brumbies captain Nic White says his side is far from the finished product as they set up a tantalising race to the minor premiership.
White is adamant the Brumbies can take their game to another level in the wake of a 42-14 thrashing of the Western Force at Canberra Stadium on Friday night.
Because Wallabies winger Tom Wright, wrecking ball Solomone Kata and Bayley Kuenzle could return to the fray for a trip to Sydney this week to face the struggling NSW Waratahs.
Allan Alaalatoa has one game left to serve on his suspension while Scott Sio is targeting a return from bone bruising on his elbow in the coming weeks.
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All that without even mentioning the doubles Len Ikitau and Andy Muirhead scored against the Force which will catapult them into Wallabies contention.
"That's the exciting thing. Look at that game and there is still a lot of stuff within our control that we can do a lot better," White said.
"Certainly, the gut feel is there will be moments in the game we can get better at. There are some big names to come back and we have timed that pretty well for the back end of the season."
However the club is sweating on an injury update for flanker Jahrome Brown after he came from the field with a shoulder injury.
The Brumbies and Queensland Reds are locked in a race to the minor premiership with the highest-ranked team set to earn hosting rights for the Super Rugby AU final on May 8.
Bonus points could prove vital with the Brumbies securing one in all bar one of their games to date this season, giving them a slight buffer against the Reds should they finish level on wins.
It's a buffer born out of a killer instinct White suggests the Brumbies may not have had last year, which is why the scrumhalf was so pleased with his side's ability to put the Force away.
"We're a dangerous team, and we don't want to get into a position like that and protect it. That's probably where we've been in the past, trying to protect that," White said.
"We've just addressed it. We're really making sure we really go after teams, and when we get ahead in those moments, continue to know what we do well, continue to do that well.
"We were really patient, there were many times when it wasn't going our way. We had a lot of territory and possession early, and didn't get points. But we were patient and stuck at it, and even when we got points, we continued to go at it.
"There's four very good teams in this competition and they're going to come after us. We're going to have to make sure we're on the ball and focused every minute of every game.
"Going into a bye week after a loss, that hurt a bit, and you saw two weeks of pain, we finally got an opportunity to get out and let rip, and we did."
AT A GLANCE
Super Rugby AU round six: ACT BRUMBIES 42 (Len Ikitau 2, Andy Muirhead 2, Cadeyrn Neville, Lachlan Lonergan tries; Noah Lolesio 5 conversions) bt WESTERN FORCE 14 (Henry Taefu, Ian Prior tries; Prior 2 conversions) at Canberra Stadium. Crowd: 7170.
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