‘Age is irrelevant’: Slipper set for Wallabies comeback

Darren Walton | June 17, 2026

Record-setting James Slipper insists age is no barrier as the veteran prop plots a shock comeback to international rugby at 37.

Already Australia’s most-capped player with 151 Test appearances, Slipper has declared his availability for the Wallabies’ three Nations Championship matches next month – and possibly beyond.

After answering an SOS call from Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt, the loosehead isn’t ruling out carrying on through to the 2027 Rugby World Cup on home soil.

“At this stage, yeah, just for the July series and then there’s a few things again working out behind the scenes, like I want to keep playing next year,” Slipper told journalists in Sydney.

After hanging up his Wallabies boots following last year’s Rugby Championship, Slipper enjoyed another strong Super Rugby Pacific campaign with the Brumbies and has signed on for another next season.

The ageless workhouse indicated he felt he wasn’t quite done at Test level when he bowed out last October.

“I’ve always wanted to put the Wallaby jersey first, like whatever’s best for that,” he said.

“So I was content. I was really happy with what I did in the jersey. I definitely did as much as I could at the time.

“But I probably surprised myself a little bit with how well I played this year. I know I probably wasn’t the best prop running around, but I still felt like I was moving well, so it was just a matter of the circumstances of the year led me to this position.”

Those circumstances being injuries to fellow looseheads Tom Robertson, Tom Lambert and Blake Schoupp. leaving Schmidt short in front-row stocks.

If he winds up playing all three Tests in July against Ireland, France and Italy, Slipper will surpass All Blacks lock legend Sam Whitelock as rugby’s second most-capped player.

And if he continues on and features at next year’s global showpiece, Slipper could conceivably eclipse Welshman Alun Wyn Jones’ 170 Tests in what would be an unprecedented fifth Rugby World Cup appearance.   

“If there’s a reason for me to be available for the World Cup, then I’ll put my hand up,” he said.

“I want to make myself probably playing the best rugby I can for the Brumbies.

“And then, it’s kind of like this year, if I’ve put myself in a position where I feel like I’ve played well enough to still be contributing to the Wallabies, but a couple of things need to happen there.

“I need to earn that. I need to be playing well. I’ve got to be a better option than other looseheads in the country at the time.

“So at no stage am I sitting here thinking I’m going to be a certainty for the World Cup.” 

But if he is playing well enough, Slipper is adamant he should be picked, even at age 38.

“Particularly for a World Cup, it has to be your best team out there,” Slipper said. “It’s a World Cup. You don’t get them every year.

“Age is really irrelevant at a World Cup. You look at the South Africans, they’ve got plenty of 35-year-olds, plus.

“Sometimes experience gets overlooked here in Australia. At the end of the day, it’s performance based.”