David Campese criticises Joe Schmidt and labels All Blacks ‘very ordinary’

Legendary winger David Campese has criticised the appointment of Joe Schmidt as head coach following the Wallabies’ last-place finish in The Rugby Championship. Campese also took aim at the “very ordinary” All Blacks after their disappointing campaign.

When the full-time whistle sounded last weekend at Wellington’s Sky Stadium, the All Blacks had plenty of reasons to smile. New Zealand had capped off Sam Cane’s 100^th Test appearance with a 33-13 win; a good result at the end of a tough tournament.

As for the Wallabies, the men in gold had actually performed quite well for extended periods but they couldn’t match the might of the All Blacks during a second-half clinic. It was their fifth loss in their last six Tests, and their only win was a one-point victory over Los Pumas.

Those results have led Wallabies great David Campese to hit out at the appointment of Schmidt in the team’s hot seat. Schmidt is the Wallabies’ second New Zealand-born head coach in three years, following Dave Rennie’s coaching reign from 2020 to early 2023.

Campese remains unconvinced by Schmidt’s appointment. The 19991 Rugby World Cup winner has claimed that Schmidt “hasn’t won anything” and doesn’t understand the DNA of how Australian rugby teams should play.

“I don’t believe we should have a Kiwi coach,” Campese told The Rugby Paper. “I was in New Zealand last week for the Test and they all said, ‘Isn’t Schmidt a good coach?’ I said, ‘Why? What has he actually won?’ He hasn’t won anything.

“Yes, he might have won a Six Nations, but the World Cup is the ultimate for any sports player or coach, and he hasn’t won anything.

“We always seem to get a coach that has never won anything. We always seem to get the second-best Kiwi coach, never the first-best.

“Even though I must admit, the Kiwis are not anywhere near where they should be. I mean, they’re a very ordinary team at the moment, even though they beat us last week.

“Joe Schmidt has got no idea about our culture or history. We’re mauling the ball from 22 metres out. We don’t do that. That’s not Australian rugby.

“We’re used to counterattack and attack from anywhere. We can’t even do that.

“I just think it’s very sad that we have to go through this again with another Kiwi coach.”

With Schmidt at the helm, the Wallabies will look to turn their form around when they take on the four home nations in November. Australia takes on England at Allianz Stadium, Wales at the Principality, Murrayfield will host a clash with Scotland and then Ireland at the Aviva.

It’s the perfect preparation for the Wallabies as they continue to focus on development ahead of next year’s British & Irish Lions Series. England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland are, after all, the four teams that make up the Lions representative side.

“Going north is, for us, still about building depth because that was this year’s big project was about building depth,” Schmidt told reporters last weekend in Wellington.

“We’ve had 16 debutants and a new leader and Harry’s done very, very well.

“Those four Test matches, they make up the Lions for next year so we get a good look at their personnel. Some of them I still know from having coached them. I know them well and I know how good they are.

“It’s a bit like when we come up against the All Blacks, you know it’s going to be a really tough tour, but if we can keep building through that tour, then I think we put ourselves in a position of potentially being competitive next July.”

On Friday, Rugby Australia also announced that an Australia XV will play two matches in the United Kingdom later this year. The representative side will take on Bristol Bears (November 8) and an England A side (November 17) during November.