James Slipper is focused on getting back-to-back wins to start the year despite his newfound record status and captaincy responsibility.
Slipper will lead the side out against Wales on Saturday following a shoulder injury to backrower Liam Wright in last week’s nine-point win in Sydney.
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Coach Joe Schmidt jokingly labelled Slipper a reluctant captain when naming his side, with the Brumbies leading Australia for the 15th time.
"Slips isn't massively keen on (the captaincy) he just leads himself really well," Schmidt said on Thursday.
"He'll do a great job. Fantastic experience (and) it's that quiet leadership that we'll need and the quiet resolve he brings to his work will hopefully ripple through the team."
The prop backed this assessment, happy to do whatever the team needed on the day.
“That’s probably fair,” Slipper admits. “It’s whatever the team needs from me. I’m happy to do it but I was really happy to see Liam get the chance to lead out last week and going forward.
“…It’s always special. I didn’t see it coming really, it was pretty unfortunate for ‘Wrongza’ to miss out this week with injury being one Test into his captaincy so I’ll take the reins for this.”
It speaks to the focus and priorities of Slipper, who became the most-capped prop ever last weekend, overtaking Welsh legend Gethin Jenkins in his 135th Test
Slipper is now sixth all-time and is in line to break the Australian record set by George Gregan (139) during the Rugby Championship.
“To be fair, I get a bit awkward around the milestones, it’s not something I’m that comfortable about being spoken a fair bit,” he said.
“For me, it’s more about the team performance and I play Rugby to win games and that’s what I enjoy doing.
“Sitting in the changing rooms after a good performance, I’ll take that over most things.
“That’s the plan this weekend and whenever I hang up the boots I can look at everything else.”
The Wallabies are eager to continue their quick start under coach Joe Schmidt as they continue to build confidence heading into an important 18-month period.
"The good teams are consistent throughout their performances and that's what we're aiming to do," Slipper said.
"Coming off a pretty lean year last year and a new group of players, new staff, we just really wanted to put in a performance that we were proud of.
"The challenge for us now is to replicate that."
