Slipper retires after Bledisloe Cup, 150th Test milestone

James Slipper, Australia’s most-capped Test player, will retire from international rugby after Saturday’s Bledisloe Cup match against New Zealand at Optus Stadium in Perth, bringing to a close a 16-year career that included his 150th Test last week in Auckland. The 36-year-old becomes the first Australian to reach 150 Tests and only the third player in the sport’s history to do so, joining Wales’s Alun Wyn Jones and New Zealand’s Sam Whitelock.

Slipper, who debuted as a 21-year-old in 2010, said in a Rugby Australia statement that representing the Wallabies had been the proudest achievement of his career. "As a young kid on the Gold Coast playing backyard footy with my brothers, it was a dream to pull on the gold jersey, and to be able to say I’ve lived my dream for what’s coming on 16 years is more than I could ever have asked for," he said. He added that now was the right time to step away from Test rugby to allow emerging props more game time ahead of Australia’s home Rugby World Cup in 2027 and to spend more time with his wife and two daughters.

Slipper’s career includes several milestones. He is the most-capped prop in Test history, has played at four Rugby World Cups with...