{"id":552459,"date":"2026-03-20T08:57:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T08:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/552459\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T08:57:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T08:57:08","slug":"james-slipper-makes-history-as-super-rugbys-all-time-appearance-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/552459\/","title":{"rendered":"James Slipper makes history as Super Rugby\u2019s all-time appearance leader"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ACT Brumbies<\/a> prop James Slipper<\/a> has officially become the all-time appearance leader in Super Rugby, going one clear of former Crusaders<\/a> loosehead Wyatt Crockett<\/a> by taking the field at GIO Stadium on Friday night.<\/p>\n

Three-time Super Rugby champion Crockett held the record from April 14, 2017, after surpassing legendary Blues<\/a> rake Kevin Mealamu. That was Crockett\u2019s 176th appearance in the iconic red jersey of the Crusaders, going on to play another 26 matches before hanging up the boots.<\/p>\n

Slipper walked through a tunnel formed by both teams ahead of his 203rd match, with the home side taking on the Chiefs. The 36-year-old joined the Brumbies in 2019, following a 100+ game stint with the Queensland Reds.<\/p>\n

\u2018Slips\u2019 debuted for the Reds<\/a> in the opening round of the 2010 season against the NSW Waratahs<\/a> and was part of the title-winning squad the next season. The front-rower decided to sign with the Brumbies after meeting with then-coach Dan McKellar at the Canberra Central food court.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to sell him two things: he\u2019d enjoy Canberra and him and\u00a0Scott Sio<\/a>\u00a0could play in the same team together\u2026 as it turns out, it\u2019s worked out pretty well for Slips,\u201d McKellar told reporters in Sydney this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just a good bloke. Loved being in his company. What I\u2019ve seen him put his body through over the years and front up week on week on week on week, my respect and admiration for him is through the roof.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally pleased. Wyatt\u2019s held that record for a long time and hopefully Slips does the same. He\u2019s not only playing his 203rd\u00a0Super Rugby game, he\u2019s played over 150 Test matches but he continues to play very, very well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like every week there\u2019s a James Slipper milestone and I sent him that message but it\u2019s nice for him to get the recognition that he probably doesn\u2019t love but he certainly deserves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slipper is no stranger to history-making feats, having become the most-capped Wallaby ever during the 2025 international season. The Gold Coaster decided to retire from Test duty after the second Bledisloe Cup Test between the Wallabies and All Blacks<\/a> last October.<\/p>\n

Having signed a new one-year deal with the Brumbies on May 26, 2025, Slipper hasn\u2019t retired from all forms of rugby just yet. Friday night\u2019s clash marked the forward\u2019s fifth appearance of the season, starting at loosehead in all of those matches.<\/p>\n

While Slipper has retired from international rugby ahead of Men\u2019s Rugby World Cup<\/a> in Australia<\/a> next year, current Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt has kept the door ajar for the Test veteran to make a stunning return in time for the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think you\u2019d ever say never,\u201d Schmidt revealed on\u00a0Stan Sport\u2019s Rugby Heaven.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u00a0Nic 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,\u00a0Blake Schoupp<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Lington 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

But March 20, 2026, now holds a special place in Super Rugby history.<\/p>\n

Slipper is officially the all-time appearance leader and there\u2019s still plenty of matches to be played in Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ACT Brumbies prop James Slipper has officially become the all-time appearance leader in Super Rugby, going one clear…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":552460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-552459","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\/552459","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=552459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/552460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}