{"id":179149,"date":"2025-09-30T04:12:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T04:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/179149\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T04:12:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T04:12:15","slug":"james-slipper-shares-mixed-emotions-after-making-wallabies-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/179149\/","title":{"rendered":"James Slipper shares ‘mixed emotions’ after making Wallabies history"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There are now three players in rugby\u2019s ultra-exclusive 150 Test club: Alun Wyn Jones<\/a>, Sam Whitelock<\/a>, and James Slipper. Celebrations for the new addition Slipper\u2019s milestone over the weekend were, however, muted after another Bledisloe Cup defeat.<\/p>\n

The Wallabies stalwart may be in his 16th season of Test rugby, but he is yet to lift the Cup contested by the trans-Tasman rivals. The loss was also a heavy blow to Australia\u2019s Rugby Championship<\/a> ambitions.<\/p>\n

While the result was front of mind for the 36-year-old post-game, questions on how it feels to reach such a rare milestone prompted some reflection.<\/p>\n

\u201cMixed emotions,\u201d Slipper replied. \u201cGutted with the result, but in terms of the 150, I\u2019m super proud, humbled. I\u2019m a little bit surprised I actually made it there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Points Flow Chart <\/p>\n

New Zealand win +9<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Time in lead<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

74%<\/p>\n

Possession Last 10 min<\/p>\n

26%<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A 150th Test cap was awarded at Eden Park, and while Slipper wasn\u2019t sure where he would keep or display such a prized possession, he had a few others to keep ot company.<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old isn\u2019t sure exactly what the future holds, but has no interest in charging ahead for the sake of dethroning Welshman Alun Wyn Jones\u2019 160 international appearance record.<\/p>\n

Whether 2025 spells the end or not, though, will be determined by his team. Slipper said there was potential for another run in 2026, but would avoid, at all costs, announcing his retirement only to be lured back into the fold, \u00e0 la Nic White.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what I don\u2019t want to do, come out and retire and then potentially run out in another one,\u201d Slipper laughed. \u201cI\u2019m here for the rest of the year, but whether I\u2019m needed or not, that\u2019s probably a team decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of Slipper\u2019s potential inclusion, the Wallabies\u2019 immediate future looks bright. Young stars are shining, and the game is experiencing a wave of renewed support Down Under thanks to a return to competitiveness in the global standings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last 18 months have been really good for this Wallaby group. A lot of work\u2019s gone in, a lot of work from Joe and the staff, and also the players.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always known that the support\u2019s there for us, especially back in Australia; it\u2019s probably just been a little bit hard for them to support us over the last so many years.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us to get them back on side and proud of their team is one of our goals, and tonight, the fight was there. I\u2019m sure the fans will be proud of the team\u2019s efforts tonight.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one thing I know is that that team\u2019s going to go forward in the years to come and be really strong and be what Australian rugby needs to be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are now three players in rugby\u2019s ultra-exclusive 150 Test club: Alun Wyn Jones, Sam Whitelock, and James…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-179149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}