Brumbies veteran Stirling Mortlock became the first player in Super rugby to breach the 1000-point barrier in his side's 24-15 opening round win over the Western Force in Perth on Friday night.

Mortlock booted three conversions and a penalty for the Brumbies as they overcame the golden boot of James O'Connor and a dogged but injury-prone Force.

O'Connor nailed his first five penalties to keep the Force within touch after the Brumbies made a bright start to the contest with two first-half tries to Stephen Moore and Josh Valentine.

But with the Force trailing 17-15 in the 70th minute, the 19-year-old Connor couldn't live up to his earlier efforts, missing his first penalty of the night from 36m out on a slight angle.

It was a reprieve the Brumbies made the most of, swinging the ball to the other end of the ground where substitute hooker Huia Edmonds touched down near the corner after shaking off O'Connor's desperate tackle just three metres from the line.

Mortlock nailed the conversion to make it 24-15 in the 72nd minute and the former Wallabies skipper produced a try-saving but possibly slightly high tackle minutes later after the Force made a promising break to ensure his team held on to victory.

The Western Force's injury curse struck hard before kick-off, with five-eighth Mark Bartholomeusz, filling in for the injured Andre Pretorius, ruled out with a neck complaint and winger Cameron Shepherd straining his quad during the warm-up.

But the Brumbies were also dealt a blow when Wallabies skipper Rocky Elsom failed a late fitness test on his hamstring.

O'Connor's hot boot kept the Force in touch during the first half as the Brumbies, dubbed the 'Real Madrid' of the competition due to their star-studded line-up, flexed their attacking muscle early.

Brumbies prop Ben Alexander made a surprise break in the 11th minute after a neat pass from Mortlock opened up the Force defence and it was ex-Force playmaker Valentine that crossed with ease.

O'Connor nailed a penalty in the 18th minute to make it 7-3 but the Force defence was again left wanting two minutes later when Adam Ashley-Cooper sprinted through a massive gap to set up hooker Moore for the Brumbies' second try of the night.

However, the brilliance of O'Connor in open play and his deadly accuracy with the boot kept the scores tight, nailing three more penalties for the half to reduce the deficit to two by the break.

Mortlock and O'Connor traded penalties early in the second half as the home side's defences started to dominate but the Force missed two chances to go ahead, a 53m penalty attempt from Brett Sheehan and O'Connor's late miss.

All of the Force's points came through O'Connor's boot but the Perth-based franchise will be desperately hoping Bartholomeusz's neck injury isn't serious after his replacement, Sam Harris, had a shocker.

The Force will also be sweating on the fitness of Wallabies No.8 Richard Brown, who injured his right shoulder during a crunching tackle in the second half.

Force coach John Mitchell confirmed Bartholomeusz was likely to miss two to three weeks.

"We've had a wretched five days of injuries with Andre, Barty and Shep all pulling up short," Mitchell said.

"We dogged that in big time.

"We were in the contest for a long time.

"We didn't have possession for long enough periods ... (but) when Jimmy had a kick on goal we were right in that match."

Brumbies coach Andy Friend said his team were almost made to pay dearly for their lack of discipline.

"Yeah lots to work on still but very lucky to get the four points," Friend said.

"I thought we started well, scored two reasonable tries, but then probably sat back.

"We knew the Force were a tenacious team and they kept coming us.

"We then lost our discipline, lost our structure and a bit of shape."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP