{"id":731069,"date":"2026-06-12T04:06:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T04:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/731069\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T04:06:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T04:06:12","slug":"wallabies-news-2026-james-slipper-comeback-justin-harrison-opinion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/731069\/","title":{"rendered":"Wallabies news 2026: James Slipper comeback, Justin Harrison opinion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wallabies<\/a> great Justin Harrison has labelled James Slipper\u2019s<\/a> impending retirement backflip as an \u201cindictment on Australian rugby.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nine.com.au reported on Wednesday<\/a> that Slipper, the most-capped player in Wallabies history, had agreed to end his short-lived Test retirement<\/a> and make himself available for selection in July\u2019s Nations Championship.<\/p>\n

\"James<\/p>\n

James Slipper of the Wallabies walks off the field for his final game through a guard of honour.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

The prop was given a guard of honour by the All Blacks<\/a> and gave an emotional post-match speech after he played his last Test in Perth on October 4.<\/p>\n

But with Slipper still performing strongly for the ACT Brumbies<\/a>, Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt<\/a> had convinced the 37-year-old that he had more to offer in the international arena.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe indictment on Australian rugby is that James Slipper – we love him and he\u2019s playing good rugby – is that someone hasn\u2019t taken his position and really made it their own. That\u2019s the indictment,\u201d Harrison said on Stan Sport\u2019s Rugby Heaven.<\/a><\/p>\n

Angus Bell, on sabbatical in Ireland with Ulster, is Australia\u2019s leading loosehead prop but depth in the position took a blow when Slipper\u2019s Brumbies teammate Blake Schoupp injured his foot in the qualifying final loss to the Hurricanes.<\/p>\n

Schmidt is set to name his first Wallabies squad of the season before the Super Rugby grand final on June 20.<\/p>\n

Western Force winger Zac Lomax is managing a groin injury and is not expected to be picked as Australia prepares for a sold-out clash with Ireland in Sydney on July 4.<\/p>\n

Harrison wouldn\u2019t pick Lomax even if he was fit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a club team, this is our highest national rugby team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s got to be rarefied air, and I\u2019m just not sure if you introduce someone into a gold environment, thinking about the version of them in a year and a half, not right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carter Gordon, Ben Donaldson and Declan Meredith are the leading playmaking contenders with Tom Lynagh still working his way back from injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cBen Donaldson has been one of the best Australian rugby players in Super Rugby Pacific 2026,\u201d Cameron Shepherd said on Rugby Heaven.<\/p>\n

\u201cBall in hand, great ball running, his distribution\u2019s been fantastic. He\u2019s polished his game, as far as kicking is concerned, that\u2019s at goal and in field. A great 50-22, in the last round against the Waratahs. It was just a classy kick.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s a perfect example of someone that you\u2019re gonna see straight back into the Wallabies squad and competing for a starting position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harrison added that Brumbies veteran Ryan Lonergan was overdue a shot as the starting scrumhalf.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has been performing exceptionally well inside a team that, let\u2019s face it, has been on a bit of a rollercoaster… exceptional for the Brumbies through the whole season. Ryan Lonergan has given enough of a library of evidence to be starting for the Wallabies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Rugby Australia announced on Friday that Schmidt would continue to be involved in their programme after his Wallabies commitments end in July.<\/p>\n

Schmidt will help coach the Australia A side with Stephen Larkham (Brumbies) and Simon Cron (Force).<\/p>\n

Australia A\u2019s fixtures for 2026 will be released later this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are pleased to have assembled a highly credentialed and experienced Australia A coaching staff for this year,\u201d RA director of high performance, Peter Horne said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have Stephen, Simon, and Joe driving this program will ensure our next cohort of players get access to an elite level environment where they have the opportunity to grow and develop their games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the home World Cup firmly on the horizon, building genuine depth is one of our key priorities and this campaign will allow us to do exactly that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wallabies great Justin Harrison has labelled James Slipper\u2019s impending retirement backflip as an \u201cindictment on Australian rugby.\u201d Nine.com.au…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":731070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-731069","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\/731069","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=731069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/731070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=731069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=731069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=731069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}