The future and soon-to-be former Wallabies games record holders walk in together. But as he did for 139 Tests, George Gregan is gone in a flash. It’s James Slipper’s time. An hour prior, the 35-year-old prop was named in the Wallabies side to play the All Blacks for Bledisloe One in Sydney on Saturday. It will be his 140th Test – no Australian has played more.
“It’s a weird feeling,” Slipper says, crouching over our table as he has for a million scrums. “A bit awkward to be overtaking George, a player I idolised and always will.” He shifts and winces. “I feel every one of my Tests in my back and neck but to be honest, the mental side, the drive to get better, to find fun, that’s the real challenge.”
As a kid on the Gold Coast, “Slips” started playing rugby “to make friends”. Across 30 years, 14 of them in Wallabies gold, he’s made plenty. Fellow prop Allan Alaalatoa calls him “a wine getting better with age” (“except now he drinks tea,” quips flanker Fraser McReight). To Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, he’s “tough, experienced, humble”.
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt calls his veteran the “ultimate team man”, a leader who “doesn’t speak often so his words resonate when he does.” Even at 35, Slipper’s work ethic is epic. “He’s in the pits battling every day,” says McReight. His courage is legend. “He puts his head in the spokes and body on the line for the team,” says Nic White.
In a generation of decline for Australian rugby, Slipper has stood tall. Unlike halfback Gregan, his domain is the scrum, the most brutally confrontational area of the game. Today, Slipper’s face bears the scars of three decades in the engine room – bent nose, pulped ears, battered brows – but his tough nut is quick to split into a grin.
“I haven’t had the results but it doesn’t change my opinion of the jersey,” he smiles. “My era has gone through a lot of change without much consistency. Fundamental skills have to be right if a team is going to find success. Rugby is a simple game and we’ve over-complicated it. With Joe, we’re trying to strip it back to what’s important.”
Former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen recently talked about leadership as “leading yourself – how you get through the dark moments, how you get through the moments when things don’t go right.” Slipper personifies that. His career looked over in 2018 after 84 Tests when he tested positive for cocaine and suffered a mental breakdown.
“Rugby was irrelevant at that stage, I was at a crossroads,” Slipper says. “I had a problem and was forced to address it. It became the most important period of my career, a blessing in disguise. I had to do a fair bit of work on myself but I’m a better human being for having gone through it. A better son, better friend, better father.”
Behind the scenes, Slipper was struggling with a maelstrom of issues: depression, his mother’s cancer diagnosis and an injury-plagued season captaining Queensland. But the contrite way Slipper served his ban and went public with his struggles meant when he returned 30 months later with the Brumbies, it was as a conquering hero.
Although he had ascended to be Australia’s 83rd captain in 2015, Slipper cites the victory over New Zealand in his 100th Test as his career peak, alongside his 2010 debut. (There’s no mention of his first Test try in 2019 or the fact he waited 94 Tests to break his duck – only New Zealand’s Owen Franks with 104 Tests waited longer).
Beyond the aches and pains, Slipper has sacrificed a lot for rugby. He missed his brother’s wedding and recently left his wife alone just hours after daughter Ava was born. “Those experiences I can’t get back but that’s how much I love the gold jersey. When the pressure is on, do you step away or step into it? True leaders step into it.”
Slipper has played under six national coaches and evolved with each, diversifying his skill set and growing in stature. He has played through pain and injury and always done what the team needed, frequently switching between loose and tighthead, often while taking on the responsibility of captaincy and mentoring younger teammates.
“Wallabies history is incredibly important to me,” Slipper says. “To be part of so small a part of the population, one of like 980-odd guys to pull on the gold jersey, it’s special. But equally special are the people I’ve played with and the fans I play for. It’s them, and my family, that have shaped me into the player and man I am today.”
And for him the Bledisloe is the ultimate. “We haven’t won the trophy in 22 years and the chance to make history is huge,” he says. “What it’d do for the game in Australia would be pretty amazing. The belief is there. We’ve definitely improved this year but we know if we don’t play well and sort our backyard, the All Blacks will make us pay.”
Although Slipper is contracted until 2025 and targeting the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia that year, his proteges like Angus Bell and Matt Faessler are rising fast. He knows this could be his last shot at the old enemy. So when he’s facing down the haka on Saturday, there’ll be no thought of records or history – or fear.
“I used to be the guy with the headphones on, engines revving long before kick off. These days I’m pretty light-hearted, I don’t play the game too soon” he says. “There’ll be nerves but no anxiety. When the All Blacks are laying down the challenge I’ll be there thinking about all I’ve been through and how ready I am for the moment.”
