On the back of Jordan Petaia's return, the Queensland Reds have snapped the Melbourne Rebels' winning run by posting a vital 19-3 victory built on the back of an incredible defensive effort in Brisbane.
It was only 10 days ago that Petaia's father, Tielu, died after suffering a shock heart attack.
Unsurprisingly, the 20-year-old Wallaby sensation missed the Bob Templeton Cup fixture against the Waratahs and in his absence the Reds' heads were anywhere but the SCG last weekend as they leaked 38 first-half points.
But with Petaia making his return, the Reds rose as one and put on a performance his late father would have been proud of.
Petaia scored the opening try of the evening, barging over from close range after 14 minutes.
He was one of two first-half scorers, with hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa scoring the second midway through the first half.
But the victory was built on the back of a remarkable defensive effort.
In the 20 minutes after half time, the Reds were forced to make more than 100 tackles and had only eight per cent of possession. In total, they made 193 tackles to the Rebels' 72.
Halfback Tate McDermott led the defensive effort, pulling off two trysaving tackles on Test stars Marika Koroibete and Isi Naisarani inside the opening five minutes after half time.
Petaia, too, made an inspiring tackle on a rampaging Pone Fa'amausili on his own 22m line.
The small but vocal crowd roared with each tackle as the minutes ticked over throughout the second half.
Eventually the Rebels turned the ball over and the Reds didn't need a second invitation as McDermott ran from the base of a scrum just over halfway, hit James O'Connor on the chest who put Hamish Stewart through a hole and the centre showed enough strength to score in the 74th minute to seal the match.
"That was brilliant," Reds captain Liam Wright said.
"Melbourne were very classy, they held on to the ball and kept us down in our half and we couldn't get out of there. But our boys held up strong. We've got a lot of tough men on our team and I couldn't be prouder of them.
"Our defence is the cornerstone of our game, we pride ourselves on it, so we let ourselves down last week. But we knew it was just flicking a switch inside our head and where better to do than Suncorp.
"The toughness Jordy showed to come back. We've got a special shout-out for Jordy's dad's family watching in Samoa and New Zealand so stay strong, we're thinking of you."
Rebels lock Matt Philip paid tribute to the Reds' stoic defensive effort.
"Credit to the Reds," he said.
"They showed some really good defence. We had some really good attacking opportunities and we just couldn't get over the line."
Tight-head prop Taniela Tupou was extraordinary in defence and played the entire 80 minutes to once again put his name in front of new Wallabies coach Dave Rennie, while back-rowers Fraser McReight, Harry Wilson and Wright were tireless.
The Rebels opened the scoring via the boot of captain Matt To'omua in the eighth minute.
It wasn't long before the Reds hit back though through Petaia as the Test back hit a hole close to the line after collecting an offload from McDermott, who was hit hard in a tackle near the Rebels' own line after a dominant scrum.
Both sides then tried to play for territory with conditions damp because of some pre-game rain.
It took until fullback Jock Campbell to take the game by the scruff of the neck as he opted to run and challenge the line following yet another Rebels kick.
The decision paid off as the fullback sliced through on halfway and then hit Filipo Daugunu with a lovely ball on his outside, before the winger found hooker Paenga-Amosa who powered his way over for a stunning counter-attacking try.
The Reds lost Hunter Paisami on the stroke of half-time to a knee injury.
It was all the Rebels in the second half.
They looked for all money to score on at least half-a-dozen occasions only for some incredible defensive efforts to prevent them.
But the Reds refused to roll over and when To'omua was lost to the game because of a head knock the Rebels failed to play with the same composure that they had for the past month, which had seen Dave Wessels' men post three straight wins.
Eventually the Rebels cracked and the Reds took their only chance of the second half with both hands as Stewart scored.
The 16-point bonus points victory saw the Reds (16) move ahead of the Rebels (14) and Waratahs (15) into second place on the Super Rugby AU standings.
