James Slipper to set Australian appearance record in Super Rugby Pacific’s 7th round
FILE - Australia’s James Slipper runs at France’s France’s Ibrahim Diallo, left, during the second rugby test between France and Australia in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, July 13, 2021. Slipper will become the most-capped Australian Super Rugby player on Saturday, April 6, 2024, when he starts for the ACT Brumbies against the New South Wales Waratahs in his 178th match. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake, File)
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Wallabies prop James Slipper will become the most-capped Australian Super Rugby player on Saturday when he starts for the ACT Brumbies against the New South Wales Waratahs in his 178th match.
Slipper played more than 100 matches for the Queensland Reds between 2010 and 2018 before switching to the Brumbies in 2019.
He has spent the last six seasons in Canberra and on Saturday will finally will surpass Wallabies hooker Stephen Moore who made 177 Super Rugby appearances, mostly for the Brumbies.
Slipper had been led to believe that Moore’s record stood at 176 matches and that he would break it when he played last weekend against his old club, the Reds.
But statisticians found that one of Moore’s appearances had been incorrectly recorded and that Slipper would have to wait one more week — the seventh round this year --and for another significant Australian derby.
“There’s been a few false starts but the boys are pretty happy about it because they get to give me another tough week,” Slipper told a media conference.
“I didn’t know too much about the record until I was doing promotional work at the start of the year when someone told me I had to play five or six games,” Slipper added.
“I don’t see any players playing to try and break records or milestones, It comes with a bit of luck and I’ve had a lucky career and worked hard but I’ve been on the better side of injuries. I’m humbled that I’ve made it.”
Slipper’s 15th season in Super Rugby has been marked by his continued durability. He has played in all six of the Brumbies’ matches so far, starting four.
That raised the question of whether he might be the first Australian player to reach 200 Super Rugby matches.
“We’ll see what happens,” Slipper said. “I’m just looking at this year only at the moment.
(The body) “has its moments and days. After games like last week it’s pulled up pretty sore but the games are the easy bit. It’s the training that are hard. I’ve said it so often over the past few years and I’m sure you’ll quote it again.”
Fellow prop and now retired New Zealander Wyatt Crockett leads in overall Super Rugby appearances with 203.
The Brumbies’ 20-19 win over the Reds last week has lifted them to third place in the standings behind the Wellington-based Hurricanes and Auckland-based Blues. The Reds now are fifth and the Waratahs 10th with two wins from six matches.
In other matches in a shortened round this weekend, the Blues will host the Western Force at Auckland, the Melbourne Rebels will play the Fiji Drua and the Hamilton-based Chiefs host Moana Pasifika.
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