Sevens weapon Alysia Lefau-Fakaosilea today made a positive comeback from a 20-month injury nightmare with the Queensland Reds at the Next Gen 7s in Lennox Head.
It was always to be a measured, limited-minutes return after such a long lay-off and the signs were upbeat.
Lefau-Fakaosilea played for seven minutes in the opening game and repeated that quota of minutes in another two of the Reds' four games.
In that time, there were glimpses of why the powerhouse is such an essential ingredient of the best Australian sevens line-ups.
In the 19-17 win over the NSW Waratahs in the Reds' third game, it was Lefau-Fakaosilea who surged off a left-foot sidestep past two defenders to score a late try when the Reds really needed it when down 17-7.
Suddenly in with a chance, the Reds sustained the pressure off the back of an incisive run from teen young gun Madi Pomerenke. Lefau-Fakaosilea touched the ball twice in the passage to follow before standout Amahli Hala put speedster Leilani Hills over for the matchwinning try.
The Reds showed enormous character to record three wins from their four games considering they played from behind for more than 80 per cent of the day.
After dropping the opener 12-0 to the NSW Waratahs, the Reds won on the bell against the ACT Brumbies 26-22 and, again, in that return match against the Waratahs, 19-17.
The final match seesawed before the Reds again came from behind for a 26-19 success over the Brumbies.
The touches for which Lefau-Fakaosilea is known were there.
She made a crunching front-on tackle in the opener against the Waratahs, she showed balance on her feet when offloading and that mane of black hair was unmistakable.
She hadn't even met some of her teammates until the day because she'd been flown in from the Australian squad base in Sydney. Some timing was out and that was only natural considering knee and shoulder issues had kept her out for almost 20 months.
Hala's workrate was non-stop. Fittingly, she scored the matchwinner in the crazy 26-22 win over the Brumbies.
That game was the best and worst of the Reds.
The Reds bungled the opening three kick-offs and found themselves down by three tries.
At 22-0, the match looked out of reach until holding onto the ball and sustained pressure turned the momentum. Two Pomerenke tries were a big part of the rally.
Any win over the Waratahs takes extra effort. Rhani Hagan made a try-saving tackle from behind with the match on the line and, seconds later, was making the next tackle to shut down the girls in light blue.
Hills enjoyed her return to sevens action. She scored a long-range try, when fed by Hala, to get the Reds ahead 14-12 in the final game against the Brumbies.
Kaelyn Passi produced another classy finish to put the Reds up 21-19 late in the game. Her show-and-go foxed the defence and she ran it in from halfway.
A Caitlin Urwin try finished a satsifying day's work for the Reds.
