SYDNEY (Reuters) – James Slipper, Australia’s incumbent test skipper, says the Wallabies will back whoever coach Eddie Jones chooses as captain for the Rugby Championship and World Cup.
The 127-cap loosehead prop took over as captain after Michael Hooper left the squad on the eve of a Rugby Championship test against Argentina last year for mental health reasons.
Hooper has since returned to the game and the Wallabies squad but Jones has yet to announce who will lead the side when the test season starts in July, only suggesting that he might pick more than one.
“Eddie made it clear he’s just going to pick the right man for the job so whoever that is, mate, we’ll just bide behind,” Slipper told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday.
“It’s not a thing I’m striving to be, it’s just about whoever’s the right man for the job.”
Jones has not always followed the expected path with his captains, most notably when he named New Zealand-born hooker Dylan Hartley as England skipper in 2016.
Slipper was included in Jones’ first training squad last month and said that although he had not signed a new deal with Rugby Australia and the ACT Brumbies he did not see the World Cup as the end of the road.
“I’ve always said I’d like to stay,” Slipper added. “It’s something that has been working along behind the scenes but I’ve always loved my time in Canberra and Australian Rugby.
“I feel I have got a couple of good years left in me, so we’ll see what happens.”
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Robert Birsel)
