How's James doing?

I had a special reason to sneak in a second interview this week. The one and only James Slipper, the Reds skipper has been down this season but is definitely not out. As Reds supporters, we all felt his pain as he tore his Achilles in Johannesburg earlier this season - and I've been wondering how he's doing for a while. So I managed to catch him this week at Ballymore to find out... he was out of his moon-boot and walking, which said a lot. Read on to find out more...

[EDIT: if you're reading this in 2024, you may be aware James has become the most capped Super Rugby player of all time, surpassing the great Stephen Moore. Reds Rugby Rules would love to congratulate James on this tremendous accomplishment!!!! "Once a Reds, always a Red"... - Tom]

Note: You can read my previous conversation with Slips - my FIRST EVER Reds Rugby Rules interview - right here.

Hi James,

Good to catch up again. I wanted to see how you're going this season - how you're travelling. As supporters, we are behind you 100%.

How's the timeline for your recovery going?

So we're basically looking at 6 months to be back playing. I've already completed about 2 months of it, or 10 weeks. I've just got out of the moon-boot a week ago, so I'm back walking around. It's healing well, it's obviously a bit painful, but I'm really enjoying working on other parts of the body while I'm injured. It's a long process, but the timelines looking around 6 or 7 months.

How have you been filling in your time lately?

Filling in the time (laughs) it's pretty important, because you do get a bit bored. But for me, I've still been able to train. I've been training the upper body, just building some strength back that I've probably lost over the last couple of years, so I'm putting some size on. I'm also doing some study at university, and basically staying pretty fresh mentally and trying to stay positive I guess. Doing a bit of reading and that sort of stuff.

I come down to Ballymore most days, and making sure I'm around the boys and staying connected.

Looking back at the season so far, what's your view on how the teams going?

It's obviously been a bit of a hard year, we started off pretty disappointing, and the players understand that. We've worked really hard throughout the year, and just haven't got the results that we've wanted. But I think we're trucking and trending in the right direction. We're probably guilty of being a bit fresh and a bit clunky at the start of the year with quite a few new players in the squad. But now they've started to gel a bit together and starting to play the rugby that we want. We scored something like 15-19 tries in the last four games. We're starting to put those points on, and I think we need to keep continuing that, building that, and have a run at the end of the year.

What would your advice be to players going through setbacks in their career?

Staying positive I think. We touched on it a bit earlier in one of the other questions - finding that balance, filling in your time with something to do while your injured. Obviously stay connected with your team-mates, and your coaches and your club, but I'd also encourage players who are going through injury to find the balance - being engaged in some sort of study or hobby, whatever it may be, you've got to stay active mentally and keep that positivity. At the end of the day, we're playing a game that we love, and injuries are a part of that. You've got to take the good with the bad, and just stay positive about it, bounce back and work hard.

Thanks for sitting down for our second interview. I really want to emphasize that as supporters we are behind you 100% and cheering you on. We wish you all the best in getting back on the field in the near future.

Thank you. I really enjoy this. And to have supporters like you Tommy, it really lifts our spirits, and we go out there to play for you guys.