Where Les Kiss’ Wallabies attack goes from here

Wallabies head coach Les Kiss has again made big changes to his matchday 23 to build depth and rest key players.

While his backline stays the same from the thrashing of Japan in Townsville, his forward pack is unrecognisable.

Young NSW Waratah prop Isaac Aedo-Kailea gets his first Test since 2024, and he’s joined in the front row by Brandon Paenga-Amosa as well as stand-in captain Allan Alaalatoa, who will lead his country for a ninth time.

A second row of Josh Canham and Jeremy Williams is inexperienced but stable, and the back row of Tom Hooper at no.6, Fraser McReight, and Rob Valetini at no.8 is sure to please many Wallabies fans.

Despite the new-look pack, the unchanged backline is where a key part of the Kiss blueprint will be truly tested; whether this backline can improve its attack will be telling.

While the side on paper is full of in-form players and highly experienced Wallabies, it is hardly a recognisable Wallabies side.

Argentina are ranked one spot higher than the Wallabies in the world rugby rankings, but the Wallabies should be going into this game as favourites, despite being on foreign soil.

Los Pumas are missing 12 of their regular starters, most notably regular flyhalf Tomas Albornoz, enforcer Marcos Kremer, athletic Juan Martin Gonzalez, and power centre Santiago Chocobares, amongst so many starters, not to mention regular captain Julian Montoya.

However, if the Wallabies think this is going to be the same sort of situation as the depleted Italy game, they will be in for a rude awakening; almost the identical Pumas side lost to the current world champions Springboks by only seven points at the start of August. This is no gimme game.

Head coach Felipe Contepomi will believe his side can apply enough pressure in the air and speed in defence to unsettle the Wallabies and force them into mistakes.

While the Wallabies’ set piece will be tested, likewise their defence, it is the attack that Kiss spoke of as not quite being where it needs to be in his team naming press conference.

“If anything in that second Test (in Townsville) we were a little ambitious in terms of possession at the wrong time, and just invited them (Japan) back into the game,” Kiss said.

“But I did think that in that second half, we pushed the game up to their third a lot more; with a combination of our manoeuvre, our shape, running with the ball, and kicking at the right time.

“I think once we opened up a bit we showed the skill we do have; they (the team) know they will need more. This team (Argentina) has an uncanny way to get into your eyeline, into your attack space, and puts your skills under pressure.

“We’ve worked on making sure we understand how that’s going to have an impact on how we can play with the ball; we gotta be smart and use that kicking game smartly as well.”

Head-to-Head

Last 5 Meetings

Wins

3

Draws

0

Wins

2

Average Points scored

34

26

First try wins

20%

Home team wins

40%

A lot of what Kiss said here is telling; it speaks to the motion the Wallabies want to move the ball with, and it also highlights that he wants his side to be more efficient.

While Kiss’s new attack shape is expansive and exciting to watch, the Wallabies attack looked its slickest in the first Test of the year, when the Wallabies took on Ireland in Sydney.

Back then, the Wallabies were running a much narrower attack under former head coach Joe Schmidt; now, Kiss has his troops playing with more width and more elements to their moves.

When backline moves have more elements to them, they can be harder to defend, but they also require greater accuracy, and therefore have a larger margin for error.

Schmidt attack

Here we can see how the Wallabies broke through with the more direct Schmidt approach.

The Schmidt attack relied on straight carriers, good lines, and only two or at most four passes before they are able to get outside defences.

In this particular clip, there are very clear block runners and out-the-back options, but the lines are immaculate, and the result is a clean linebreak that is only pulled down five metres from the Irish line.

Kiss attack

As we can see with the Kiss attack, it requires more players in motion and a greater number of passes, six in this example, before Jorgensen makes a true line break.

A double touch by your flyhalf, like flyhalf Carter Gordon in this instance, is often seen in the world of rugby as a good thing.

The adage goes ‘one touch is good, two is better, and you usually score with the third’.

However, in this sort of move where Gordon passes to inside centre Paisami and then loops around, which is often referred to as the “Sexton-loop” after the legendary Irish flyhalf Johnny Sexton, who ran it so often during his last years with Ireland and in the 2023 Rugby World Cup, is a risky tactic.

So much relies on the correct timing of the pass and running lines of the flyhalf, the inside centre, and the player outside him, whom the flyhalf runs behind, that if any of these elements are off, it becomes very simple to defend.

The Wallabies in this instance get pay from the move, but it is not without being stodgy, and it is this area of attack the Wallabies must clean up if they are to succeed against Argentina.

It is telling that Kiss spoke of Argentina’s ability to get high in defence and disrupt; it’s what has earned them success against the All Blacks and other big powers in the rugby world.

Japan, who are one of the quickest sides in world rugby, managed to unsettle the Wallabies to an extent as well.

In this clip, fullback Wright is in the “stack,” mirroring Gordon’s line alongside blindside winger Potter.

It is this “swing” from left side to right-hand side which creates the overlap for Jorgensen to streak down the sideline.

Had this move been run correctly, meaning had Wright and Potter worked harder to get wider, had the last blocker, hooker Josh Nasser, timed his run, then Jorgensen most likely scores instead of being pulled down a metre ahead of the line.

The move should have resulted in Henry and Jorgensen with space in a 2v1 with the Japanese fullback, but instead the timings of players are a little off; Henry’s ball goes behind Jorgensen, which buys Japan’s scramble defence just enough time to come across and shut it down.

It may seem trivial, seeing as the Wallabies end up scoring through Nasser in the very next phase, but that could be the difference between scoring or not against better sides like Argentina, not to mention South Africa and the All Blacks.

One system isn’t better than the other, but one has inherently more margin for error early in its implementation, whilst also having more possibilities to strike.

Kiss’s decision to retain the same backline will help these players gel better as a backline, but the results must be seen on the pitch.

As for the Kiss bid for ‘controlling territory’ and ‘knowing when to play’, that falls on game drivers like Gordon and Lonergan in the halves.

The Wallabies have played a better territory game under Kiss than during the Nations Championship with Schmidt, but that may just be dependent on the quality of opposition so far.

Despite this being a weakened Los Pumas side, this is Kiss’s greatest challenge to date in his Wallaby tenure, and it will be the litmus test for the Wallabies moving forward.

The games will only get harder after this point. Argentina again, the Springboks in Perth thereafter, followed by back-to-back Bledisloe games ahead of the Nations Championship November tour.

It may seem harsh, but the Wallabies must bed down the Kiss blueprint in these two games.

The Wallabies are walking the fine line of bolstering their stocks whilst craving results.

Kiss is doing a better job than Schmidt on safeguarding the talent that will give them the best opportunity for consistent, extended success, with regular rotation when suitable, but he must pick a favoured matchday 23 so they get a run on the board ahead of the Bledisloes.

The Wallabies are riding the momentum of three back-to-back-to-back wins, but it has all come against lower-ranked sides, and, to be frank, a heavily depleted Italy side at the end of June.

The Wallabies must win one of these two Tests against Argentina, but they should believe that if there is a time to break the one win, one thrashing hoodoo in Argentina, then it is now, for this is a heavily depleted Pumas side.

Nonetheless, with the recent close South Africa result, Los Pumas remain the litmus test for Kiss and his Wallabies. Contepomi and his men won’t go down without a fight; the Wallabies must be ready.