It was like Noah Lolesio had never left.
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Three penalty kicks, two conversions, and a try on Sunday made it easy to forget the number 10 had been sidelined with an ankle injury since round five.
The ACT Brumbies fly-half showed no signs of his four-game absence at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium during his side's 28-17 victory over the Otago Highlanders.
He managed 18 points in his first game back, showing why the Wallabies want to keep him in Australia.
Brumbies skipper Nic White was pleased to have the 22-year-old back alongside him.
"He's seamlessly come back in, as you'd expect," the scrumhalf said.
"I thought he was really good, I thought everyone was really good. He's just understanding of how we want to play, and directs us around really well.
"So it's great to have him back."
Cadeyrn Neville also made his return to Super Rugby in the Brumbies 11-point win on Sunday, after a seven-game absence.
The lock put in a 50-minute innings for his first game back, with his efforts making his nerve-damage in his shoulder a distant memory.
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The return of Neville and Lolesio provided a boost to the Brumbies starting XV but will make Dan McKellar's job harder as more players become available for selection.
The Brumbies coach is bracing for some difficult conversations in coming weeks with Allan Alaalatoa (neck) and fullback Tom Banks (cheekbone) a chance to return against the Wellington Hurricanes next Sunday.
Nick Frost will likely come back into the squad, after he was rested against the Highlanders due to his knee giving him grief.
"They'll both be a chance, but we'll see," McKellar said on Alaalatoa and Banks' return.
"We've spoken all year about depth and rotation, and having players ready. It's disappointing not to have Allan available this week, but I thought Sefo [Kautai] and Tom Ross did a really good job.
"To win a competition, you've got to have that depth and same with Banksy and obviously [Jesse] Moggy being out.
"[Tom] Wright's got better and better each week as a 15. So it'd be nice to have them available and it'll make again for some tough conversations."
Wright breathed a sigh of relief when the final whistle blew in Melbourne. The Brumbies' first try was 10 minutes in, but they first crossed the Highlanders' line 108 seconds in. The winger-turned-fullback dropped the ball over the line to bomb a certain try.
As the Brumbies were the only Australian side to beat a New Zealand team in round 10, McKellar could reflect on the moment with a grin when describing how he felt about the drop.
"Angry, if I'm being honest," he chuckled.
"But at the same time, Tommy's certainly not going out there to do it deliberately. It was a lazy action and we've got to be better than that.
"The backline execution was good ... but I thought collectively, across the board, it was a really good passage of play.
"Just disappointing that we're not sitting there on Tuesday reviewing an outstanding team try, we're reviewing a frustrating error. But thankfully Wrighty didn't dwell on it and had a pretty good game."
Isobel Cootes
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
