{"id":552052,"date":"2026-03-20T04:31:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T04:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/552052\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T04:31:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T04:31:08","slug":"joe-schmidt-hints-wallabies-return-for-james-slipper-not-off-the-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/552052\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Schmidt hints Wallabies return for James Slipper not off the table"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Joe Schmidt let out a smirk before refusing to rule out a potential return to international rugby for James Slipper<\/a>, but the Wallabies coach also insists the most-capped player in team history is currently retired from Test duty.<\/p>\n

Slipper retired after Bledisloe II in Perth last October, which was the prop\u2019s 151st appearance in the gold jersey. Welsh great Alun Wyn Jones<\/a> and legendary All Blacks<\/a> lock Sam Whitelock<\/a> join \u2018Slips\u2019 as the only three men to have played in at least 150 international rugby matches.<\/p>\n

While the curtain closed on Slipper\u2019s decorated Wallabies career, the 36-year-old hasn\u2019t hung up the boots completely. Slipper has made four appearances for the ACT Brumbies<\/a> in Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> this season, which sets up a history-making fixture on Friday in the capital.<\/p>\n

Coach Stephen Larkham<\/a> has named Slipper at loosehead prop to face the Chiefs<\/a> at GIO Stadium, which will be the front-rower\u2019s 203rd Super Rugby appearance. That will see Slipper go one clear of Wyatt Crockett<\/a> as the most-capped player in the competition\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Slipper has started the season with a series of strong performances, which included a try in the Brumbies\u2019 50-24 win away to the Crusaders<\/a> last month. Before Slipper breaks the all-time appearance record, Schmidt was asked about the Test veteran\u2019s Wallabies retirement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think you\u2019d ever say never,\u201d Schmidt revealed on Stan Sport\u2019s Rugby Heaven.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike Nic White<\/a>, once a decision is made, it\u2019s made for at least that week. I\u2019m not saying never but I know that Slips, the first thing he\u2019d acknowledge is there\u2019s a few good looseheads knocking around at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s been some really good performances across the full four teams in Super Rugby so far, and even in behind him with the Brums, Blake Schoupp<\/a> and Lington Ieli<\/a>, there\u2019s good stock coming through.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat stock could still be aided by a bit of glue that the senior man\u2019s got. He is retired currently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slipper made more than 100 appearances for the Queensland Reds<\/a> before making the move to Canberra ahead of the 2019 Super Rugby season, which followed a sit-down meeting with then-Brumbies coach Dan McKellar at the Canberra Centre food court.<\/p>\n

As McKellar acknowledged this week, \u201cit\u2019s worked out pretty well for Slips.\u201d Slipper is now set for another milestone appearance, named to start in the Brumbies front-row along with hooker Billy Pollard<\/a> and tighthead prop Darcy Breen.<\/p>\n

\u201cLoosehead prop is one of the best places to be, Wyatt Crockett<\/a>, another loosehead prop that he\u2019s getting up over the top of,\u201d Schmidt said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think with Slips, that durability. He is, I think, a stubborn man when it comes to trying to move him or try to move him on.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause people love him in their environment, they keep him there. I know talking to [Stephen] Larkham, he\u2019s delighted to have him there, as are the Brumbies players.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joe Schmidt let out a smirk before refusing to rule out a potential return to international rugby for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":552053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-552052","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\/552052","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=552052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/552053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}