The Japan Times - Slipper milestone as Brumbies ready for 'big one' against Blues

The 35-year-old prop will surpass All Blacks great Aaron Smith with his 186th appearance when ACT Brumbies face the Auckland Blues at Eden Park.

Only New Zealand's Wyatt Crockett ran out more times, with his 202 matches for Canterbury Crusaders setting the standard since he retired in 2018.

"It is special, but it's hard to focus too much on it," Slipper, Australia's most-capped player, told reporters of the achievement.

"I'm at that stage of my career, I really want to do well for the Brumbies and get a bit of success here at the club.

"That's probably more my focus than any individual accolade or milestone. I'm treating it like any other game and I think I'll probably reflect on all that sort of stuff when I finish."

The Brumbies are in dire need of a win. After narrowly beating Fijian Drua to open the season, they have slumped to Western Force and the table-topping Waikato Chiefs.

The defending champion Blues are also struggling, crashing to the Chiefs and Otago Highlanders before digging out a close victory over Wellington Hurricanes last week.

Slipper said the Brumbies were expecting a hard fight.

"They're never easy and we're expecting that again. They're defending champs and they've got a good win on the weekend, so they're going to be full of confidence," he said.

"They've got strike-power players all across their team, so it's setting up for a big one."

The Brumbies have made five changes with David Feliuai, who joined from the now-defunct Melbourne Rebels, making his debut at inside centre.

Lachlan Lonergan, Lachlan Shaw, Tom Hooper and Harrison Goddard have also been brought into the starting lineup.

The Blues are without the injured Dalton Papali'i and fellow All Black Hoskins Sotutu, who is banned for three games after a red card against the Hurricanes.

"We must continue to improve week-on-week in every aspect of our game. What is clear this year is that every team is stepping up for the whole 80 minutes," said Blues coach Vern Cotter.

"We showed improvement (last week) and when we got on the front foot, we showed that we have game-winners capable of breaching any defence."

Y.Kimura--JT