The Joe Schmidt era has ended the way it started: comfortably beating a team which has caused the Wallabies more than a few headaches in previous years.
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In 2024, Schmidt opened his Wallabies account with wins over Wales in Sydney and Melbourne, after the Welsh ended Australia’s disastrous 2023 Rugby World Cup campaign, and Eddie Jones’ troubled return to the top job in the process.
So after Italy beat Australia in Florence in 2022, and again in Udine last season, there were plenty reasons for Wallabies fans to be nervous about the final game of the Schmidt reign.
Those nerves were cast aside within 13 minutes on Saturday in Perth, as the Wallabies jumped out of the blocks playing exactly as they’ve wanted to for ages, and supporters have wanted to see for just as long. Happily, after establishing a 19-0 lead, Australia never really took their foot off the gas. Where Australia teams of the not-too-distant past have been known to relax a little when leading into the break, this one was determined to heed the lessons of defeats by France in Brisbane, and Ireland in Sydney, over the previous fortnight.
They mauled an excellent lineout drive over in the 31st minute, had a Ryan Lonergan try disallowed after he lost control in the grounding, then Len Ikitau scored right on half-time to make it 38-5. This was one of the most enjoyable halves of rugby the Wallabies have played in years.
“I’ve massively enjoyed the group,” Schmidt said post-match, after admitting to looking forward to celebrating “as a retired gentleman for a couple more hours” after his contract expired at midnight on Saturday.
But even he expressed satisfaction at the way his team kept the pressure on the Italians, and went on with the job in the second half to kill them off.
I think this (win) might give a bit of confidence to players to be able to come back out in the second half and really sustain an effort rather than let teams off the hook.
“I think they’re a great group of young men and there are some very good footy players amongst them and some footy players who are getting better. I think we’ve seen evidence of that. As I said, it’s been frustrating (the last few weeks).
“You lead for 77 and a half minutes against Ireland and don’t quite finish it off. You’re up 21-12 against a team like France at half-time. They’re some of the big hitters in world rugby.
“I think this (win) might give a bit of confidence to players to be able to come back out in the second half and really sustain an effort rather than let teams off the hook.
“I said to the players, I felt like in some ways we were beating ourselves just by being loose, or not going out and playing the second half in the same manner as we started the game.”
In truth, that was about as far as Schmidt would be drawn on how he felt his tenure finished, typically seeking to divert attention and accolades back to the players. But he has in recent weeks been quite emotive about his achievements, and particularly his determination to leave the Wallabies in a stronger position than he found them.
“You’re a coach, you always want more from the players and you want them to want more from themselves,” Schmidt said before the Nations Championship when asked if he was pleased with where he’d taken the side.
“I do certainly feel that you can’t sell out stadia and we couldn’t have the support we had last year without having earned some of that.” Since he said this, the Wallabies played in front of three more sold-out crowds in Sydney, Brisbane, and Perth – a run of eight full houses from their past ten Tests in Australia since July last year.
So are the Wallabies in a better place than when Schmidt took charge two years ago? Comfortably so. The 2023 season is one Australian rugby fans acknowledge happened, but prefer not to talk about. But that one season had such an impact on the Australian playing stock and the Wallabies’ game itself, Schmidt almost certainly discovered a renovator’s delight of a team needing much more attention than the sales brochure hinted.
The better comparison for Schmidt’s tenure might be when the Dave Rennie residence ended. On that point, the Wallabies of mid-2026, like the Wallabies of late 2022, feel like they’re on the right pre-World Cup trajectory.
Schmidt has built strong leadership through the playing and coaching group, with 17 of the current squad falling in that sweet spot of 20-60 Tests.
Through the work of Mike Cron, the Wallabies scrum is in excellent shape and ended the July leg of the Nations Championship with a flawless 100% success rate. This is actually a continuation from 2025, when the Wallabies held a similarly perfect success rate through the British and Irish Lions Series, carried it throughout the Rugby Championship, and deep into the November internationals.
The lineout averaged 93.5% success through July, and the tweaks to the way maul defenders are policed has allowed the Wallabies go back to their lineout drive with confidence. And with three maul tries in three games, they’ve already scored 60% of the maul tries grounded in all of 2025.
Like Rennie, Schmidt has been determined to build depth in all positions, and handed out 27 debuts over his 31 Tests. Some 20 of those 27 debutants are still in or at least around the latest Wallabies squad.
Schmidt has built strong leadership through the playing and coaching group, with 17 of the current squad falling in that sweet spot of 20-60 Tests, leaving room for the influence of players such as Allan Ala’alatoa and James Slipper. For those with fewer than 20 Tests, the likes of Josh Nasser, Jock Campbell, Nick Champion de Crespigny, Carlo Tizzano and Lonergan all sit in leadership groups for their states.
By the end of the aforementioned season we dare not speak of, public confidence in the Wallabies was all but shot. Schmdit has rebuild the positivity around the national team, reflected in those impressive attendance figures.
For now, all eyes turn to Les Kiss and the answers he will provide to lingering questions on style and selection. Kiss will start with the relatively easier task of a bilateral series with Japan, for which he’ll likely name his first squad this week. After that, two far sterner Tests in Argentina await, followed by matches against the remaining SANZAAR partners but which won’t count toward a Rugby Championship.
By then, Schmidt may well have dusted off those golf clubs he mentioned from time to time during his twice-extended stint with the Wallabies. After some well-deserved time with his very understanding family, he’ll put on another Australian tracksuit in October, assisting Stephen Larkham and Simon Cron on an Australia A tour of the USA.
And then? We’re not so sure. Schmidt says he’ll enthusiastically support the Wallabies from afar, but whether he’ll be involved with the team in any official capacity next season and into the World Cup remains to be seen. And whether Kiss will want him involved might remain unanswered for a good while longer.
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Hi Brett - Great article and it’s worth remembering Schmidt picked up a side on it’s knees and shaped them into a side that without the injuries, probably would have beaten the Lions last year, which nobody expected at the start of his appointment.
I know the EOYT was a blot on the copybook but for a relatively small squad, they played a lot of rugby last season and just looked gassed from the middle of the tri-nations onwards and that tour were 4 games too many at the end of a long year.
The recent signings will all help and if Kiss can get his walking wounded back to fitness up front and secure some decent ball, I think they will have a back line that can cause an upset at RWC 2027.
Personally, I think Schmidt did a better job than he has been given credit for with the WB’s but if Kiss is successful, Joe should get more credit for the legacy he left for him but I think that WB backline could be something special by the time of RWC 2027 - they have all the ingredients in place, so watching with interest to see how they develop.
This is a glass half full way to look at it. I look at it through the lens of celebrating mediocrity. Are the Wallabies truly in a healthy state or are they more like a sick cancer patient still struggling with disease but having a good day after a rare win? Schmidt has just presided over a horrible losing run against nations big and small which ended against a quite honestly woeful Italy. Australia right now are in a third tier of sides including Italy, Fiji and Japan. They are still well behind the second tier in which Ireland, England and Scotland sit but they are ahead of Wales if that counts for something. With Rennie on board Australia were still comfortably in that second tier. The Slide began with Jones and continued with Schmidt. He has produced the odd stirring result has never quite gotten them out of their lowly position. He continued to ignore many fantastic Australian players and the trend of international sides to pick size and has gone for work rate instead. It also does not feel like the Australian DNA has been restored in terms of both style and tactics and Australia has not developed a clear identity under him. Its fair to say that while he has widened the depth several players and top talents now find themselves on the outside looking into an environment they should comfortably sit in. Its also fair to say several players introduced are not of the standard required so the wide net and depth feels artificial. Yes he has brought optimism back through positivity and through some glorious results like the ones in England, SA or the Lions tour. He equally presided over some terrible losses like the losses to Ireland, Italy and France last year, the lack of success and almost surrender to the All Blacks in the 2 Bledisloe Cups he took charge of and the woeful performances in the losses against Argentina at home last year and away the year prior. Ultimately I cannot be optimistic about a side that continues to dwell in the doldrums when its place should be amongst the elite.
Thanks, Brett. Joe was the right guy to fix the broken Wallabies post-Eddie, but whether the extra year was useful or not is questionable.
The Lions series was there for the taking, lost with an attachment to effort over impact and handing over the first test with barely a whimper. From there we had the massive high of the Joburg win before a finish to the season that was worse than disappointing. I went to Twickenham with little hope of a result, really; we were that poor post-Joburg.#
The Ireland loss showed a huge improvement in playing style for half a game and then we reverted to type - lacking ambition and finding ways to lose a game we’d done enough to win. France was predictable after that, Italy a pleasant surprise by the size of the win.
I’m on the fence wrt whether Joe gets a pass. Lifting us from where Eddie and the Hammer dropped us was the least we might have expected. We didn’t settle on a defensive pattern or a way we want to play with ball in hand, we chopped and changed our halves and, IMHO, failed to get the locks and centres right.
👍👎, in the absence of a sideways thumb, he gets both.
The extra year was out of necessity Derek. Had RA and Queensland been able to reach agreement on 2026, there is no question…
What’s done is done !
Ride on !
Which new players Kiss will play more is the interesting part of the equation.
Kiss will no doubt stick with Wilson but a Hooper, Valetini and McReight back row seems a more balanced outfit to me. Much prefer a bruiser at 8 like Jasper Wiese. Wilson carries a lot but doesn’t bend the line as much as Valetini. Hooper has some PSDT qualities about him.
Hopefully LSL as one of the locks and JAS somewhere other than centre, where his incredible talent is being stifled. He needs the freedom and space of being fullback or on the wing. Hell he would be better as an offloading crash baller and heavy tackler at 12 than 13, like SBW. Danganu should be the other wing. He’s just too good to leave out. Slippers time is done. Jeremey Williams should be a 6 and utility. Easy fixes that would improve the Wallabies immediately. The rest of the team pretty much picks itself.
Spot on Brett, the improvement in game fundamentals, set piece and depth developed by Joe will set this Wallaby team up to build towards RWC 2031. The reality is the current Wallaby team is in the same category as Scotland and Argentina - they will take a top three scalp on the odd occasion but simply do not have the depth/player pool to consistently be in the top 3 in the world or to win RWC 2027. Kiss will take the team forward under the same principles as Schmidt but RA will determine the long term success by developing and more importantly, keeping the talent in AU rugby.
Tough group but on home soil, I think the WB’s will progress from that Group and will be the surprise package of the tournament.
If it weren’t for injuries, you would have probably won the Lions series, so don’t under estimate the inherent quality within that squad, which is getting stronger.
I think they have a better chance than people realise. 👍
Yeah, hard to argue too much here, Henry.
The outside-Wallabies development will be key to future success, I agree. A plan for this development would be intriguing to hear..
We need good players to stay in Oz but the guys who go OS do learn something useful so a balance needs to be achieved. Loan contracts probly the go. Send a big young prop or lock to France! Also big locks to NPC in NZ.
I’d love to see them beating those teams on a more regular basis. The Wallabies tend to lift for “most” big games against big teams - but lose to those they should comfortably beat. Super frustrating…
the million $ question - what would the wallabies look like if there was an orderly transition from Rennie to Schmidt post RWC 2023? I think shag summed it up well on the rugby unity pod in saying that you can’t judge Joe by his win rate only as he is trying to deal with and fix issues that have been in aus rugby union for more than a decade now and that was particularly the issue post-eddie. With three coaches in a row now with sub-40% win rates, can we really expect a first-time international coach without much better assistants to do much better while the aus rugby ecosystem remains the same? I unfortunately think not… Then the billion $ question is, what does aus rugby have to look like if the WBs are to become a top 5 force again? Where do waugh, herbert and co make changes and are they the ones to do it (answer: imo no)? Because the reality is if you ask the likes of ben darwin is that the WBs had probably already lost the 2027 RWC by the time they won the bid for it…
One of the great Wallabies imponderables of the last decade, NH.
And the follow-up to your further question might even be ‘can the Wallabies become a top 5 team again?’ given current AUS depth concerns against those of the current top 5 teams…
well from what we’ve seen the obvious answer is to recruit more mungo’s who have forgotten how to play rugby, pay them an exorbitant rate which depletes the bank account and means the good rugby layers have to leave and go off shore to make a living. We’re stuffed!
Agree, they would have been slightly further along had Joe taken over from Rennie but the results would have been similar. The ecosystem seems to be tracking in the right direction along with the positive signs on the field, no doubt assisted by good leadership at RA, better alignment between super rugby and high performance and the injection of Lions and RWC revenue.
There is always excuses for underpeforming kiwis. But if an Australian isn’t the worlds best, kiwis will scream he’s hopeless.
Would we have been better without Joe Schmidt ? Undoubtedly yes.