Brumbies need to smarten up

Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham said that a few 'stupid' mistakes cost his side in their defeat to the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.

The Brumbies went down 27-21 in the first game on their South African tour and had their lead at the top of the Australian conference cut to just one point after the Waratahs' bonus-point victory over the Lions on Sunday.

The visitors scored the only try of the first half to take a narrow lead into half-time, but Larkham felt that they could have been ahead by more if they had made better use of their opportunities.

"We struggled to find a bit of rhythm in that first half, a few decisions went against us and we left a few points out there," Larkham told AAP.

"We made a few stupid mistakes and that certainly hurt us."

The Cheetahs took control of the game with two tries at the start of the second half, and although a late Stephen Moore try brought the Brumbies within striking distance a huge drop goal from Johan Goosen at the death sealed the victory.

Larkham was left frustrated with how difficult his side made things for themselves.

"In the second half, we let in two relatively soft tries and then we had to claw it back.

"We had opportunities to create a little bit of rhythm, but again similar to the first half, a couple of decisions went against us, or individuals again made some silly mistakes," said Larkham.

The Brumbies felt let down when centre Tevita Kuridrani was blown up for obstruction, but Larkham said that those types of calls are likely to go against you away from home.

"Tevita ran on the outside of the defending No.12 and it looked to me like the 12 made the decision to tackle Tevita, as opposed to making the decision to tackle Henry.

"But you're not going to get any of those 50-50 decisions over in South Africa, so we had to move on from that.

"I thought we moved on pretty well from that decision, but those little decisions really interrupt your momentum in the game," he said.