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International

'Small steps': The ex-All Blacks coach in charge of reshaping Wallabies defence

Ben Smith

Published: 13 hours ago | 22 July 2026 21:34 PDT

Wallabies Assistant Coach, Scott McLeod poses for a portrait during an Australia Wallabies Squad Announcement on July 23, 2026 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

Incoming Wallabies head coach Less Kiss has brought in former All Blacks assistant Scott McLeod from the Kubota Spears with his first coaching group.

McLeod, a former All Black himself, was an understated member of the All Blacks under former coaches Steve Hansen and Ian Foster from 2017 to 2023, widely regarded as the defence coach.

During the Hansen years and under McLeod, the All Blacks were a strong counter-attacking side using defence to fuel their attack from forced turnovers and errors.

Kiss hinted that they want to turn the Wallabies defence “into a weapon” to attack from indicating McLeod will shape the Wallabies in the same way.

“Over the last for the last six months, I’ve talked to Scotty about defence and where he wants to take that, and obviously there’s going to be some focus on that area,” Kiss told media at Allianz Stadium in Sydney.

“It’s [McLeod] a new voice. In the last week, we’ve just dug down deeper into what that’s going to look like, smell like, feel like.

“So those things will be presented to the players very early in the piece.

“You know, one thing’s for certain that we want to make sure that it becomes a weapon for us that we can attack with it. How that looks, we’ll find out.”

Joe Schmidt finished as Wallabies head coach against Italy with 12 wins from 31 matches during his three-year run, a return of 38.7 per cent.

Kiss has had an observing handover period from Schmidt and will resist changing the structures too fast, instead making “small steps” to evolve the Wallabies into the 2027 Rugby World Cup.

He insisted it’s an evolution not a revolution for the Wallabies, building on the foundation established by Schmidt.

“But we we’re going to take small steps. You know, we don’t want to go in and change everything, or or make or make massive change,” he said.

“We want to make sure he went the right steps. And he’s [McLeod] got a logical way that he’s looking at the defence.

“And I know the boys will buy into it. And of course, ultimately, you need you need strong defence for any campaign.”

The Wallabies will kick-off the Kiss era with two Tests home-and-away against Japan next month.

Comments

1 Comment

Two Cents 1 hr ago

It’s interesting that his take on where he wants to take Australian rugby is actually back to how it was when the Wallabies were in the conversation as the world's best side.

Defence and counterattack have long been ingrained philosophies in Australian rugby from the junior most levels right up to the professional level and that we have tried to go away from that core is why the teams have faltered.

If he's committed to returning to that, then there's reasonable hope that the turn around won't take that long. Some people are claiming it will take up to a decade or more to fix things. But if defence and counterattack are what he's going to focus on then we could be in a better place faster than anyone expects.

Defence is a vital pillar of any playing strategy as you have to be able to maintain your shape and your composure under pressure, two things which Australian sides, not just the Wallabies, have become unable to deliver consistently.

This has then put them in the position where because they can't stop opponents from scoring they've had to try and outscore them and they've been woefully ill equipped to do that. Hence the decline in performance.

Counterattack is the other component that used to make Australia a very dangerous prospect for any team to face because they knew if they made mistakes or were too loose the Aussies would be right onto it and exploit it mercilessly.

This still comes out on occasion because like I mentioned before it is in fact ingrained into how all junior players are coached. So they all have it embedded in there but when they're not allowed to express it then they struggle as that's their natural game.

Attacking from defence has long been a cultural notion in Australia and it largely stems from those quintessential Australian traits of having a crack just coz and backing yourself against all odds regardless of how absurd.

If we embrace this again, it will change our fortunes for the better. Maybe not this year, maybe not next year. But in the not too distant future we will start to enjoy the success that we have sorely missed.

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