![\"James](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/james-slipper-of-the-brumbies-reacts-after-corey-toole-of-th-JKDH3GS5QRBE3MHQVVSXWGO2LY.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe ACT Brumbies have celebrated James Slipper’s milestone match in thrilling fashion, roaring back to defeat the Chiefs 33-24. <\/p>\n
Slipper became the most-capped Super Rugby player of all time at GIO Stadium on Friday night, reaching 203 caps to move clear of former All Black Wyatt Crockett (202).<\/p>\n
It’s a significant milestone for the prop, who debuted for the Queensland Reds in 2010 and featured 151 times for the Wallabies, before announcing his retirement from international level last year.<\/p>\n
Wearing a new jersey with a golden No. 1 on his back, Slipper registered five tackles and 12 metres in 53 minutes on the night. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
James Slipper of the Brumbies reacts after Corey Toole of the Brumbies scores a try during the Super Rugby Pacific Round 6 match between the ACT Brumbies and the Waikato Chiefs at GIO Stadium in Canberra. (Source: Photosport)<\/p>\n
But it was the typically inspirational All Black Damian McKenzie (one try, 25 passes, 70 metres) who threatened to overshadow the 36-year-old’s night as he led his team to a 17-point advantage with 24 minutes remaining. <\/p>\n
The Brumbies then flicked a switch, scoring three tries in just over 10 minutes, before speedster Corey Toole ran the length of the field in the 79th minute to secure victory. <\/p>\n
It came after McKenzie missed a penalty goal, which would have put the visitors back in front with less than five minutes remaining. <\/p>\n
“The ones where you don’t win and you’ve got a milestone just don’t feel the same. It was great to see the boys play the way they did in that second half,” Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham said. <\/p>\n
“Everyone was screaming to run, and then he (Toole) almost got chased down by McKenzie. <\/p>\n
“We’ve had a couple of those (close wins) this year, and it builds confidence.”<\/p>\n
Victory is a modicum of revenge after the Brumbies were dumped out of last year’s semi-finals by the Chiefs 37-17. <\/p>\n
It will also be a welcome relief for Larkham, having lost their past two clashes and sacrificing top spot on the Super Rugby Pacific ladder. <\/p>\n
“I definitely feel like we could have won the game tonight … so we’ve got to be better there,” Chiefs captain Luke Jacobson said. <\/p>\n
“I’m pretty frustrated. We just weren’t able to build enough continuity in our attack.”<\/p>\n
After Slipper received a guard of honour from both teams before the match, the Brumbies started hot, with Hudson Creighton crashing over the line in the fourth minute<\/p>\n
The Chiefs responded as winger Liam Coombes-Fabling crossed twice to help the visitors lead 17-7 at halftime.<\/p>\n
The Chiefs’ advantage grew to 17 points after McKenzie found himself on the receiving end of some slick passing down the left flank in the 56th minute.<\/p>\n
The Brumbies immediately answered when captain Ryan Lonergan scooped up a loose ball and flopped over the line, before Charlie Cale added another five-pointer to his season’s tally when he picked up the ball from the ruck and scored.<\/p>\n
The Chiefs desperately searched for a winner, but Toole snatched an interception and ran from one end to the other to seal victory. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The ACT Brumbies have celebrated James Slipper’s milestone match in thrilling fashion, roaring back to defeat the Chiefs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,5386,760,85],"class_list":["post-553838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-chiefs","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553838","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=553838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}