Rugby Australia have back up candidate in place should Schmidt walk

Rugby Australia could have an answer from Joe Schmidt this week about extending his coaching contract beyond the British and Irish Lions tour, but believes it has an Australian coach ready and waiting should he walk away.

Schmidt’s contract talks come amidst the release of an ambitious five-year strategy paper by RA that includes winning the Bledisloe Cup and Rugby Championship every two years.

The Wallabies have made huge progress since Schmidt took over the reins this year, with players and fans alike pleading for the Kiwi coach to remain at the helm through to the next World Cup in Australia in 2027.

On their recent UK tour, the Australians posted wins against England and Wales and were unlucky not to upset heavyweights Ireland in Dublin.

Currently holidaying in Ireland where members of his family are based, Schmidt is due back in Sydney this week, with RA boss Phil Waugh looking to lock him down long term.

“We’ve been working through with Joe, he’s still overseas and coming back this week, so we expect to sit down with Joe and work through the plan post-Lions,” Waugh said.

“He’s done a lot of heavy lifting and there’s been progress in the Wallabies environment, and he’s surrounded himself with really good people.

“Now it’s important to give players and staff certainty over the next few weeks.”

He said RA was working through a “contingency plan” should Schmidt not commit until the World Cup, with Australia’s Super Rugby coaches the obvious candidates.

“We’re working through what that may look like, which is appropriate business practice when you don’t have certain outcomes,” Waugh said.

“I think Joe was quite overt around the fact that he saw his responsibility in elevating Australia and also providing a platform for an Australian to take over when he does finish up.

“If you look across our Super Rugby clubs now the four head coaches across the system – Simon Cron is a strong coach at the Force, you’ve got Stephen Larkin at the Brumbies, Les Kiss in Queensland and Dan McKellar at NSW, so we’ve got four very strong coaches in our system.

“I think that we’re well positioned.”

RA’s strategic plan, dubbed “From Green To Gold”, has three “pillars”  – performance excellence, participation growth and promotion effectiveness – and is aimed at Australia returning to its status as the top-ranked rugby nation.

RA admits it has set “lofty” goals, including reaching the final four of the men’s and women’s Rugby World Cup (both 2027), improving the win rate to 70 per cent, with the men’s team also targeting victory in the Bledisloe Cup every two years – a trophy they haven’t won since 2002.

It also aims for Australian teams to win gold at the LA Olympics and two Super Rugby titles.

RA chair Daniel Herbert said the difference between this strategy paper and those in the past was that everyone, including member unions, were now pulling in the one direction.

“Collectively, the stakeholders worked together over the last 10 months … we’ve had three stakeholder summits and other meetings,” Herbert said.

“We’re very proud of how the game has come together to deliver this strategic document, and we look forward to working together with member unions to make sure that we deliver on the very lofty ambitions that we have for the code over the next five years.

“We’re a long way from where we came, in the last 12 months to now, but we’ve still got a hell of a long way to go.

“We think it’s achievable, but there’s a lot of work to do.”