Australia's most experienced rugby prop came out of retirement at a drizzly Vikings Park on Saturday, turning out for the Uni-Norths Owls fourth grade side in front of just a handful of hardened fans.
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Ben Alexander came on after the main break scored two second-half tries against the Tuggeranong Vikings in his first match since 2018, but a late penalty goal gave the home side a 29-26 win to spoil a fairytale return.
The smattering of fans gathered around the secondary Vikings Park field were shocked after half-time when they realised the Owls' number 16 was in fact the Brumbies all-time games record holder.
His shock return came on the same day Matt Giteau was to pull on a Gungahlin Eagles jumper in the John I Dent Cup, although that comeback has been delayed after the club's clash with Royals was postponed after heavy rain drenched Griffith Oval during the week.
Alexander, capped 72 times for the Wallabies, was given freedom to roam across the field on Saturday and will likely return to first grade once he's match fit.
"I'll just take it week by week at the moment and just see how we go, I'm really proud of how the Owls are going at the moment and I just want to chip in and help out the club while I can," Alexander said.
"My Saturdays are normally Park Run but that's been cancelled. For as long as I've been a kid, Saturdays are for competing whether it's Park Run or playing footy.
"It's fun playing lower grade. Rolfey [Sam Rolfe] captain-coach there at 10 just said yeah play wherever you want, bit of eight, bit of outside centre."
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Whether Alexander gets pushes up into first grade and gets a chance to square off against Giteau later this season remains to be seen.
"The guy's just a competitor supreme, the guy just loves playing footy," Alexander said.
"Obviously he can't at the moment because the Japan and US comps are all suspended. Knowing Gitty he just wants to get out and play footy.
"It's good when some blokes try and give back to the game, and even if it's just playing for your local club, it's a way us old fellas can give back to the game that's given us so much."
The Owls' top-grade winning streak came to an end later in the day as an Isaac Henry penalty goal with less than three minutes remaining handed Vikings a 26-25 win.
Uni-Norths had taken a late lead before the home side had the last laugh, and coach Sam Rolfe hinted Alexander would likely be promoted to first grade in the coming weeks.
"We've just got to get him match fit," Rolfe said.
"He was only going to play 10 minutes and then he goes I want to come on at half-time, he was itching. It's good to see he's keen to have a crack."
Tuggeranong coach Nick Scrivener praised the resilience of his team to survive the Owls' late onslaught.
"The last 10 minutes I thought was fantastic, we just muscled up and contact areas were really good, I was really happy," Scrivener said.