Western Force coach Simon Cron believes going through two weeks of rollercoaster wins against Moana Pasifika and the Brumbies will make the side stronger.
The Force stunned the Brumbies with a 45-42 win in Round 2 of SMARTECH Super Rugby Pacific at GIO Stadium on Saturday night.
Victory came just a week after the amazing after-the-siren 45-44 victory over Moana Pasifika at HBF Park.
It sent records tumbling: ending the 15-away game losing streak hoodoo, grabbing their first back-to-back opening Super wins, and their first victory in Canberra in 5,060 days.
Cron was proud how the side stood up to a Brumbies second-half onslaught, rebounding after giving away a 21-point lead, getting four yellow cards and going down to 13 men late in the second period.
He said it would help them for the rest of the season, with the next game against the Queensland Reds at HBF Park on Saturday (kick-off 4:35pm, tickets via Ticketmaster).
"The scenarios we've been through in the last two weeks will help us in the future," Cron told reporters after Saturday night’s game.
"The fight the boys have showed will help them in the future. The boys, down to 13 men and fighting, was something we are really proud of."
But Cron was not happy leaking more than 40 points in consecutive wins.
"We've just got to focus on the areas we can fix," he said.
"We did a really good job in the middle of the field defensively. We've just got to work on a few things down the edge.
"They stuck to the game plan, we wanted to target a couple of areas on the field, and full credit to those boys who fought it out to the end shutting it down."
He warned they will face a "potent, amazing and great" Reds side and admitted emotions ran high in the coaches’ box.
"The boys decided they would like to keep me up until the 83rd minute to make sure I don't settle down," he joked.
"Emotions both weeks have been a bit of a rollercoaster.
"You are trying to stay pretty calm, especially with yellow card decisions.
"You've got to try and work how to mitigate somebody being off the field.
"We try to make the best decisions we can for these guys on the field."
Vice-captain Nic White said the poor away record had not been a focus ahead of the game and said victory was like a "double win at Fortress Canberra".
"It's not something we spoke necessarily about," he said. "Just really proud the way we went about it.
"We got away to a good start and things got really tricky and tough.
"Playing a man down for a very long period showed a lot of grit, a lot of care.
"Just really proud the way the boys in the really pressure moments stuck to game plan.
"We didn't go off script. It's very easy under pressure, chasing a game, a man down, to go off script.
"There were some real calm heads out there."
White said yellow cards were "part of the game".
"Certainly not complaining about the yellow cards," he said. "Just saying that when you are a man down it makes thing difficult.
"I was proud the way we dealt with missing those guys was big for this group in terms of belief.
"We were just next job focused and that put us in a really good place."
After the Force got out to a 21-point lead the Brumbies halved the gap before the break.
"Certainly, would like to have come out of the sheds at half- ime with a bit more," White said.
"They jumped on us there (scoring two quick tries) but we got back to task. We dealt with those challenging moments really well.
"To be able to win away from home, not only touring away from home....this is a place not many teams come and win.
"I know from being on the other side. It's called a fortress....it feels like a double win really."
The Force scored the winning points five minutes from time through debutant front-rower Brandon Paenga-Amosa and then ground their way through 17 phases to get the away-day monkey of their back.
Both sides scored six converted tries with fly-half Ben Donaldson's second-half penalty separating the sides.
Wallabies winger Dylan Pietsch grabbed a double, hooker Nic Dolly, winger Harry Potter and flanker Carlo Tizzano joined Paenga-Amosa on the scoresheet.
Donaldson kicked five conversions and the all-important penalty with Max Burey adding the final conversion.
