Brumbies sign Slipper on two-year deal

The Brumbies have signed vastly experienced Australia prop James Slipper from the Reds on a two-year deal.

Slipper was given a two-month ban in May after returning two positive tests for cocaine.

The 29-year-old, who has won 86 caps for the Wallabies, has served his suspension and will join the Canberra-based Brumbies ahead of the 2019 Super Rugby season.

“The Brumbies have always had a long history of making players better through their programme, so to get a chance to be a part of that is very exciting and something I am looking forward to,” said Slipper.

“When I spoke with Dan [McKellar, coach,] about 2019 and beyond I was very impressed and cannot thank both him and the Brumbies organisation enough for the opportunity to take my rugby career forward with them.”

BREAKING:

The Plus500 Brumbies are delighted to announce the signing of 86-times capped Wallabies prop James Slipper on a 2-year deal! Full story below!

>>https://t.co/cHVmn3Xqx0#BrumbiesFamily pic.twitter.com/yQ006cvLcS

— Plus500 Brumbies (@BrumbiesRugby) September 27, 2018

Outgoing chief executive Michael Thomson said the Brumbies do not see the signing of Slipper as a risk.

“There’s a monitoring programme for players that have previously breached a test and so that will apply to James,” he said.

“We don’t envisage any problems with James, we wouldn’t have signed him if we thought there was an issue there and similarly, we’ve got a good group of young guys playing for the club that know the expectation and also really want to be professional in what they do.

“We’ll have all sorts of support networks available for him, he knows a lot of our senior players very well as well and then our coaching squad’s very clued into this sort of thing as well.

“So, we want him to succeed we want to provide the environment where he can show his true potential on the field but also put those demons of the past behind him.”

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