'Crook all week', but ACT Brumbies prop James Slipper was always answering the call

"I don't know if he was excited to go back on," Brumbies captain Allan Alaalatoa grinned. "But when you know Slippy is going to go back on, you know he is going to do a good job for you. Although he didn't show the body language that way."

But then you start to understand why.

"He was actually crook all week," Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham said.

"At the start of the week he was in a pretty bad way with the flu, and we got him out there to train for about 25 minutes. He was sort of cruising into the game, and he was so relieved when he came off at the 50-minute mark.

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"That was tough for him to come back on."

Slipper came off 51 minutes into the Brumbies' thrilling 43-28 win over the Fijian Drua at Canberra Stadium on Friday night, but returned to the fray just 12 minutes later when Blake Schoupp was forced off for a head injury assessment.

But there was never a doubt Slipper would answer the call.

Former Brumbies coach Dan McKellar always hailed the Test centurion as the kind of player who could be absolutely busted, but still tell you he is ready to hit the next ruck. Club and Test teammate Nic White defines Slipper as the kind of player who just has an aura about him. He's the kind players want to play with.

While the 33-year-old recovers before heading into Wallabies camp on the Gold Coast, the Brumbies are awaiting clarification on the severity of head knocks suffered by Schoupp and lock Darcy Swain.

The bonus for the Brumbies - who momentarily climbed to the top of the Super Rugby Pacific ladder this weekend - is a looming bye gives them time to recover before heading to Wellington to meet the second-placed Hurricanes on April 28.

"There was no clear category one [concussion] for Darce, so we'll investigate that further. I think Blake's probably in that range somewhere," Larkham said.

"The good thing for us, with Tooley [Corey Toole] as well out with a head knock, we've now got a week to freshen up and give these guys an opportunity to come back from the return to play protocols."

Slipper and Schoupp are both among a group of 13 Brumbies bound for the Gold Coast this week after being drafted into Eddie Jones' first Wallabies camp with an eye on the World Cup.

The remainder of Larkham's squad will take a short break before reconvening later this week to plot the Hurricanes' downfall - but not before they got out to watch the opening round of the John I Dent Cup, during which Larkham tipped Wests to score an upset over Tuggeranong at Jamison Oval.

"They'll go into camp for three or four days and then get the rest of the week off, the other guys will have the start of the week off and then we'll come back in on Thursday," Larkham said.

"We've got some country visits, trying to get out to the regional areas who support us, we're trying to give that support back to them. Then we'll come together as a squad for the first time on Sunday.

"It's effectively a really good reset for us now. It's been, if you include the trial games, 10 games and we've won nine out of 10. There have been some hard yards, you could see that [against the Drua], a bit of fatigue out there but the guys pushed through that really well.

"We definitely need the break right now."

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