By Sebastian Tan in Canberra

Fresh off a heartbreaking loss to rivals Queensland Reds, ACT Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham admits he has another conundrum lingering in his mind.

The Brumbies’ undefeated start to the Super Rugby Pacific season was ended in the cruellest way on Saturday when Wallaby Carter Gordon stormed over for a diving try after the siren to seal a 34-31 victory for the Reds in Canberra.

The hosts were in the box seat, leading by 11 points with less than five minutes remaining, but their opponents flicked a switch to steal the win.

Larkham’s team’s efforts came even without Rob Valetini, who’d been rested, and the injured pair of Corey Toole (leg tightness) and Ollie Sapsford (hamstring) after the Brumbies had an unchanged squad in their first three matches.

But now, the coach says he will be forced to rest about 12 of his stars over the next few weeks.

World Rugby load management rules, announced in October, state that athletes can’t play more than six consecutive match weeks.

The Brumbies don’t have a bye until round eight.

“We’ve got to get the assessment of where everyone’s at,” Larkham said.

“There’s a strong list from Rugby Australia, with the advice that they can’t play more than six games in a row, and obviously, playing seven games in our first trot is going to be challenging.

“We decided to rest Bobby (Valetini) for this game. Then there are other players like Ryan (Lonergan), who we have to strategically rest over the next period of time.”

In Saturday’s clash, Kadin Pritchard suffered a potential concussion, while Larkham said a couple of players picked up niggles.

“It’ll be an ongoing discussion with Rugby Australia to see where the depth of our squad is, where our injuries are, and whether there’ll be some allowances for certain players,” he said.

The Brumbies next face the Fijian Drua on Saturday, but Larkham expects the week to be “tough”, knowing his team will have to take two flights to get to Fiji.

“We’ve got some pretty awkward travel to get over there …We have to go on Thursday … which means we can’t train on Thursday,” he said.

“We lose a day with travel on the way back, and then it’s into a six-day turnaround for the Chiefs.”