Joe Schmidt leaves Les Kiss a Wallabies team on the rise

Here we go again. Another head coach is stepping into the hot seat for the Wallabies, with Les Kiss taking over ahead of Men’s Rugby World Cup 2027. The new boss is the fourth Wallabies HC in five and a half years after Dave Rennie, Eddie Jones and Joe Schmidt.

It’s an all-too-familiar feeling for Wallabies fans, who continue to dream of a brighter tomorrow while someone new leads the way. Fans draped in green and gold look ahead to the future with a curious sense of optimism, but there’s plenty of uncertainty that lies ahead.

This is uncharted territory for Kiss, who has never before taken on the top job with an international rugby side. The former Queensland Reds boss did serve as an assistant with Ireland at two Rugby World Cups, though.

But there’s something different about this. It’s been 449 days since Rugby Australia announced Kiss would take over from Schmidt, and the Wallabies have made some obvious signs of progress and growth – even as wins continued to elude them.

There’s absolutely no doubt the Wallabies are a much better side now than they were at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, where they failed to make it out of the group. The Aussies have claimed some big wins and Schmidt deserves plaudits for those efforts.

The Wallabies shocked the world during the Schmidt era, including wins over the British & Irish Lions in Sydney and an upset against back-to-back world champions the Springboks at Johannesburg’s Emirates Airline Park.

New Zealand-born Schmidt’s winning percentage sits just below 39, which is one of the lowest of any Wallabies coach in the professional era. But to say that period for the Wallabies was a failure would be both naïve and foolish.

It’s not as if Kiss is looking to rebuild the Wallabies from the rubble of a cataclysmic disaster, as they look ahead to the World Cup. Schmidt helped transform the Wallabies into a team that may very well be on the cusp of something special.

Australia were beating both Ireland and France at half-time in recent weeks, before falling away in the second term. Those Six Nations juggernauts sit in the top four on the World Rugby rankings and the Wallabies were more than competitive.

If anything, the Aussies were the better team against Ireland for long periods.

The recent 47-point win over Italy was the reward for weeks, months and even years of tough results and hardship. But when this team clicks, as they did in Schmidt’s final game in charge, they can be mighty tough to stop.

“I haven’t loved the results sometimes. In fact, I’ve been depressed about the results in some of those games,” Schmidt said this week.

“We actually showed that we could do some things,” he said.

“So that’s part of why I’m encouraged and that’s part of why I’ve loved the challenge because when people say we couldn’t, like especially the Lions (series when) we were so written off, I was really proud of the way the players came together and competed.

“I’ve got regrets about things that didn’t quite work out for us and, after 25 years of doing this professionally, I know that results are not the only visible demonstration of progress.

“I think there are other deliverables that are evident in the group.

“You can’t sell out stadia if people aren’t getting some sort of belief about what potentially the team can deliver.”

They aren’t far off. But Kiss’ challenge is finally turning growth into results – capitalising on the world-class players at the disposal of the Wallabies, as they look to claim more wins and even challenge for silverware.

And just look at the calibre of players in and around the Wallabies set-up at the moment; Fraser McReight is one of the best loose forwards in the world, and the likes of Angus Bell and Len Ikitau are certainly deserving of the ‘world-class’ moniker.

Ikitau and Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii have established one of the most exciting centre pairings in the sport, and it’s only going to get better. Tom Wright, Max Jorgensen, Dylan Pietsch and Harry Potter have all looked electric out the back too.

Then you consider the athletes making the switch to rugby, as they dream of playing at the World Cup in Australia next year. Sydney Roosters bruiser Angus Crichton has signed on, and ‘Marky Mark’ Nawaqanitawase is also returning.

Remember, Nawaqanitawase was the top try-scorer in the NRL last season. The capped Wallaby played sevens at the Paris Olympics, and recently helped New South Wales win State of Origin – undoubtedly one of the most naturally gifted athletes in Australian sports.

Now, it’s time for the Kiss era, which gets underway with a two-Test series against Japan next month. Beating Japan in both matches seems like a fair marker, and getting the job done in at least one of two away fixtures in Argentina seems like a realistic goal as well.

If winning can become a bit of a habit, then the Wallabies will make strides in a way they haven’t in recent seasons. With the World Cup just around the corner, it might actually be the perfect time for a new coach to come in with new ideas.