Brumbies coach Jake White says that there is plenty of work to be done but he is happy to have won and achieved their goal.

The 19-17 victory over the Force was White's first match in charge of the Brumbies and it was also the first match for six Brumbies - debutants, Leon Power, Ben Mowen, Jesse Mogg, Ruaidhri Murphy, Scott Fardy, and Joe Tomane.

Head Coach Jake White acknowledged that the Brumbies won ugly but said that he was pleased to leave Canberra Stadium with a win.

"Tonight 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," White said on the Brumbies site.

"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 on June 12 I circled today in my diary as a must win for the boys confidence and we've achieved that goal."