South Africa's World Cup-winning coach Jake White won his opening match in charge of the Brumbies with a 19-17 victory over Western Force in an Australian Super Rugby derby in Canberra on Friday.

Trailing 9-12 at half-time, the two-time champion Brumbies hit back with two second-half tries to nudge out the Perth-based Force in a lacklustre opening match of the Australian Conference.

White took over at the Brumbies after they finished a dismal 13th last season and fielded a largely new-look young side.

White acknowledged there was plenty of work to be done, but he was pleased to leave Canberra Stadium with a win.

"This was a big step in forming the way we want to fight to the end of matches," White said.

"It was a must win for the boys confidence and we've achieved that goal.

"At the end of the day it was always going to be tight, they are the Western Force, they are a quality rugby team and they were never going to come over here wanting anything but a win.

"But credit to our boys, they stuck in there. I've said it so many times that other teams don't know how good we can be - that we don't know how good we can be.

"A wins a win, it wasn't the prettiest match I've ever seen, but at the end of the day we wanted a win.

"Back when I arrived here [in Canberra] on June 12 I circled this day in my diary as a must win for the boys confidence and we've achieved that goal."
 
Force coach Richard Graham rued the 10-minute spell when the Brumbies crossed for their two tries early in the second half, saying the break in the Force's concentration ultimately cost them the match.

"For a large part of the game we played the way we wanted to play; we controlled the game," he said.

"But it was just that 10-minute period.

"I thought their breakdown work was good but we were probably a little bit slow."

White, who coached the Springboks to the 2007 World Cup crown in France, said that although the Brumbies had started cautiously, the game was there for the taking.

"You can't just go through the motions and be scared," he said.

"Somebody had to make a move and I'm just glad we managed to get over the line."