Lions coach Dick Muir readily admits that it is a gamble to rest some of his key players, for their game against one of the pre-tournament favourites, the Brumbies, this weekend.

However, the Springbok assistant coach, in his first season of trying to whip the under-performing Johannesburg franchise into shape, is confident the "calculated risk" is worth tasking.

Muir has made seven changes to the starting team for the second match on his team's five-week Super 14 tour of Australasia, when they play Brumbies in Canberra on Friday.

Centre Deon van Rensburg and All Black Carlos Spencer will miss this week's game through injury, but other regulars like Heinke van der Merwe, Franco van de Merwe, Hannes Franklin, Earl Rose and Wandile Mjekevu will all start on the bench.

Speaking to this website from Australia, ahead of Friday's encounter, Muir admitted that there's a risk that so many changes could have a disruptive influence.

However, while continuity is important, he feels the team will cope with the many changes.

"They [the new players starting this week] have been training with the squad for a few months now, they know each other - it shouldn't be too much of a disruption," Muir said.

He feels that the need to keep players fresh outweighs the need for continuity.

"You do need to take a bit of a risk," Muir told iafrica.com, adding: "But it is a long campaign and we also want to give everybody an opportunity, in order for us to see of we have the best players starting."

He said that while they are "obviously searching for the first win of the season, their main goal remains to keep improving as their campaign goes on.

Muir added that his team is very close to that first win.

"I though we were unlucky last week.

"Although the score [a 18-33 loss to the Hurricanes win Wellington] didn't reflect it, I though we were close to getting a result."

He also suggested that there would be more pressure on the Brumbies - who have just returned from a three-week road trip - because they are at home and are expected to win.

The Brumbies confirmed their pre-season status as one of the fancied teams to reach the play-offs when they beat the Western Force (24-15) in Perth in Week One, stumbled against the Bulls (32-50) in Pretoria, before bouncing back strongly with an impressive (19-17) win over the Stormers in Cape Town.

"They [the Brumbies] are back home, in front of their home crowd," Muir said of Friday's game, adding: "I would imagine there would be a lot more pressure on them than on us, because they are a side that everybody has been talking up in pre-season and everybody is expecting them to win."