Pocock's eventful comeback for Brumbies

David Pocock's long-awaited comeback for the Brumbies was eventful, to say the least.

The star flanker's first game of Super Rugby since a devastating 2016 quarter-final loss coincided with his 100th appearance in the competition.

It also happened to be at the Brumbies' home of GIO Stadium against their biggest rivals, the NSW Waratahs.

The 29-year-old's opposing No.7 was none other than Wallabies captain Michael Hooper.

If that wasn't enough to take in, Pocock saw out the full 80 minutes and took on the captaincy after Christian Lealiffano was taken off midway through the second half for a head injury assessment.

It wasn't quite the Pocock of old immediately, but there were enough promising signs for Brumbies and Australian rugby fans to be excited about.

But not even a player with the skill, nous and temperament of Pocock could work such magic on his first night back as the Brumbies suffered a shattering 24-17 defeat to leave their Australian conference hopes in tatters.

While pleased to be back playing after having knee surgery following his 12-month sabbatical, Pocock was disappointed to be speaking after a loss.

"It would've been nicer if some things went differently, but I'm loving being part of the group and I wasn't sure how long I'd stay long on for," Pocock said.

"If you're starting you're wanting to play 80 and as a player you always want to stay on as long as you can.

"It's a tough loss for us, the guys put a lot of effort in and unfortunately things didn't go how we'd hope, but we can't throw everything out. There's a lot of good effort in there."