Noah Lolesio's rapid recovery from a suspected spinal injury is a sight for sore eyes - but the quick turnaround has surprised the man himself most of all.
Speaking ahead of his return to play this weekend, Lolesio admitted it was a long 24 hours of testing for him and his family after being stretchered off following an ugly collision during the Brumbies' Round 13 win in Perth.
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When asked how he felt when his scans came up clear, Lolesio told reporters: "it was just a huge relief, to be honest".
"It was a bit scary what happened a few weeks ago… not just for me, for my partner, my family as well. It was a real stressful time, that 24 hours when it happened,"
"Just sitting there in the hospital waiting for like seven, eight hours and to get the news at the end of it was really pleasing.… [my] back just needed a bit of time to rest and get itself right."
However, Lolesio's teammates got stuck in quickly once it was clear the flyhalf would be back soon.
"Copped a bit of stick from the boys, as you can tell - they're saying, two green whistles for sore back!" Lolesio chuckled.
"I just needed time to heal. You couldn't really do much about it. There were no micro fractures or anything like that, more like the ligaments were irritated and stretched a bit.
"I just needed a week or two to just chill out and then started training. Then once it warmed up, it felt good. I always wanted to be back for this game."
Despite being fresh off the bye, the Brumbies have trained several times over the past fortnight with Lolesio hungry to return against the 12-time champions.
ACT's 31-24 win against the Crusaders last year snapped a 12-game losing streak stretching back to 2009 but Lolesio is staying grounded ahead of Friday night's clash at GIO Stadium.
"I think the competition as a whole, each team can win if they're having their day," Lolesio said.
"We won't take this game any more serious than we have taken other games, but we know Crusaders have a really strong outfit. I think everyone knows the stake of it.
"The last few years we've always had a semi-final away and it's pretty difficult to win, especially across the ditch. We're putting everything into the performance tomorrow night and [we'll] just control what we can control.
"[We] had a good crowd out here for that Reds game [and] a packed GIO is a big advantage for us playing out there. I know it might be a little bit cold, but everyone rug up and hopefully we can put on a good game."
