Rennie couldn’t contain his satisfaction in having Slipper at his disposal for a World Cup year, labelling the re-signing news as “brilliant”.

Rennie is a huge admirer of Slipper as both a player and a person, and made him Wallabies captain when Michael Hooper was injured last year.

The Red-turned-Brumby is a rarity in world rugby that he is a genuine two-side prop, who plays both equally well.

“He’s hugely respected, he’s such a good man, he’s been around a long time, he has massive experience and his ability to genuinely play both sides of the scrum is a real rarity in international footy,” Rennie said.

“Then his work ethic. He is big defensively and he has a bit of a mean streak in him around clean out. He has been huge and it is a great signing to keep him longer term.”

While some will argue Slipper and Beale aren’t spring chickens anymore, the value of greybeards in a World Cup campaign is well and truly proven.

The last five World Cup winners have been well-stocked with 30-somethings, and all have average ages over 27. New Zealand in 2015 and South Africa in 2019 both had average ages over 28, and the famous run of Michael Cheika’s team to the final in 2015 saw the Wallabies armed with 7 players over 30 and, at the time, the most total Test caps ever.

“Experience is massive, and the thing I love about Slips is he is desperate to win titles and his preparation and everything. It is very influential and certainly his versatility going into a World Cup would be potentially massive for us. He is a good man and he has had a huge impact on the group,” Rennie said.

“You have to earn the right to play as well. Just because you have been around for a long time doesn’t guarantee you being part of a World Cup, and I guess what we have been doing over the last few years is we picked some young men who hopefully by the time they go to a World Cup have got 40-Test caps under them or maybe more.”

Slipper has a chance to become the most capped Test prop in history with his new contract.

Slipper has won 114 Test caps for the Wallabies since making his international debut in 2010 against England in Perth. The Queenslander, who joined the Brumbies in 2018, sits sixth on the Wallabies’ all-time capped list, behind George Gregan (139), Stephen Moore (129), Adam Ashley-Cooper (121), Michael Hooper (118*) and Nathan Sharpe (116).

Test schedules for the next two seasons are not yet finalised but the Wallabies play 14 Tests in an average year, and roughly 10-12 in a World Cup year.

If Slipper plays all those Tests, he could go close to passing Gregan’s mark but Hooper will likely get there first and become Australia’s most capped player ever.

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Slipper only needs to play another 21 Tests to pass Wales’ Gethin Jenkins (134) as the world’s most capped prop, however. He would pass a list of retired engine room royalty on way: Tendai Mtawarira (117), Tony Woodcock (118), Jason Leonard (119), Martin Castrogiovanni (120). Also still playing is Cian Healy, however, one cap behind on 113 but the Irishman is two years older than Slipper.

Watch every match of the Six Nations on the Home of Rugby, Stan Sport. Continues this weekend with Wales v Scotland (Sunday 1:10am AEDT), France v Ireland (Sunday 3:40am AEDT) and Italy v England (Monday 1:55am AEDT) all streaming ad-free, live and on demand only on Stan Sport.