Wallabies set to start Rugby World Cup campaign without most experienced player

The Wallabies are preparing to start their Rugby World Cup campaign against Georgia without veteran loosehead prop James Slipper as he battles to overcome a foot injury.

Slipper is the most experienced player in the Wallabies squad having represented his country in 131 Tests.

The 34-year-old was named as the Wallabies’ co-captain along with fellow veteran Michael Hooper for the Rugby Championship but the front-row lost his place in the starting line-up to Angus Bell towards the end of that competition, while Will Skelton took over the leadership role for the World Cup.

Absent in Australia’s loss to France

Slipper missed Australia’s 41-17 defeat to France on Sunday and the Brumbies stalwart is racing the clock to be fit for their showdown with the Lelos at the Stade de France on September 10.

“At this stage, definitely touch and go for Georgia, he’s got a tendon problem in his foot,” Wallabies coach Eddie Jones revealed to reporters.

“We believe we’ve got that under control and he’ll be back on the paddock after Georgia.”

His likely replacement in the Wallabies’ matchday squad is Brumbies team-mate Blake Schoupp, who made his international debut in that defeat to Les Bleus last weekend.

The World Cup is the start of Jones’ ultimate mission, which he described as his ‘smash and grab’ campaign.

Jones conceded that his plans to win the global showpiece in France has changed drastically since he replaced Dave Rennie as the Wallabies’ head coach at the start of 2023.

“100% in terms of the emphasis of how we want to play (the plan has changed),” said Jones.

“The team is always defined by how you play. Your playing style or identity dictates how the team is and we’re just finding that now.

“We’ve got a new leadership group led by Will (Skelton) and that’s changing the team as well.

“The plan was always to free us up from structure. I don’t believe you can copy other team’s structure, you’ve got to come up with your own way of playing and so that’s always been the goal but initially we didn’t get it right in how we wanted to play.”

Although the results haven’t followed – the Wallabies have lost all five of their Tests this year – Jones and Skelton believe the team are finally starting to figure out what works best in a precarious, chaotic World Rugby environment.

“I was telling the players today it’s been a fascinating experiment,” said Jones.

Wallabies are discovering how to operate as a team

“You go in with a perception of how the team may be and then the player’s talents have really shone through and we’re just discovering now how we need to operate as a team, how we can play to our strengths.

“For us, the big thing is to find the right way to our player’s strengths and then the leadership group being able to adapt on the field.

“We’ve seen most games now the captain doesn’t finish the game. You look at the weekend and most of them didn’t so the ability to adapt on the field, to sin bins, HIA is going to be significant.”

“We haven’t got the results but we’re definitely building in the direction we want to go. Georgia’s that first step,” Skelton added.

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