Les gives Kiss of approval to Schmidt’s Wallabies plan
Darren Walton |
Describing the role as “scary but exciting”, incoming Wallabies coach Les Kiss is making no bold promises and admits Australia will need the rugby gods on their side to win the home World Cup in 2027.
Kiss will take over in mid-2026 after Rugby Australia on Wednesday confirmed Joe Schmidt had agreed to extend his tenure until after this year’s spring tour of Europe.
Schmidt was to have finished up after the Rugby Championship but RA was eager for “minimal disruption to the Australian rugby ecosystem” and for Kiss to complete his Queensland Reds commitments through the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season.
Kiss ultimately clinched the job over more agitating candidates, including former national coach Michael Cheika, by pledging to follow the Schmidt template after the New Zealander vastly improved the Wallabies’ stocks since taking over from Eddie Jones last year.
“I’m not here to rip and tear,” Kiss said at a packed press conference in Sydney.
“I’m going to make sure I dovetail as much as I can and I’ll bring my points of difference into play, but we have a lot of things in common.
“So I have a lot of confidence that the governance process and the way that we operate in a high-performance program here is fantastic.
“We’re a bloody talented country and we can play the game so I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
Kiss is very much buying into RA’s all-for-one, one-for-all five-year plan and says it will take a “powerful team” effort to restore the Wallabies to past glories after the national team slumped to 10th in the world rankings following the disastrous 2023 showpiece under Jones.
“A lot of focus is on the head coach, which is understandable,” RA boss Phil Waugh said.
“We’ve looked at an overall systems solution here and, whilst our head coaches are hugely important, the broader management team and the stability across the management team that drives the performance on the field is equally as important.
“We believe that we’ve got a plan now through to the end of 2028 which provides that stability, that continuity, and hopefully that continued progress on performance.”
Schmidt and Kiss have enjoyed a strong coaching relationship for more than a decade, including a successful stint with Ireland that included three Six Nations titles and a Rugby World Cup campaign in 2015.
A former Queensland State of Origin and Kangaroos winger, who played 100 games for the North Sydney Bears in the 1980s and ’90s, Kiss will be the fifth Wallabies coach in seven years.
After a brief stint coaching rugby league, he fell into a role as South Africa’s defence coach, before assisting the NSW Waratahs and then heading to Europe.
A move to England to coach London Irish was swiftly ended when the club hit financial issues in 2023, with Kiss swooping when Brad Thorn left his post at the Reds.
Turning 61 in December, Kiss will have 16 months in charge before trying to lead Australia to Rugby World Cup glory, something Jones in 2003 and 2023, John Connolly (2007), Robbie Deans (2011) and Cheika (2015 and 2019) couldn’t manage to achieve.
While backing his successor to the hilt but also ruling out helping in any formal way, Schmidt says Kiss will need some “fickle luck” to bring the Webb Ellis Cup back to Australia for the first time since 1999.
And Kiss agrees, knowing injuries, the bounce of the ball or refereeing decisions can all play a part in cut-throat tournament formats.
As boring as he knows it sounds, Kiss will rely on team unity and preparation to revive Australia’s fortunes.
“If your culture is strong, you can go far,” he said.
“And once you get to the pointy end, those games become 50-50, a call here or there, and building the type of resilience and robustness you need in your squad to be able to go through eight to nine games in a row to win it is part of what you have to be able to do.”
AAP
