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Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh has defended the decision to delay installing Les Kiss as national coach after the Wallabies slumped to their ninth loss in 10 Tests under outgoing mentor Joe Schmidt.
Saturday’s match against Italy in Perth marks Schmidt’s 31st and final Test in charge of Australia. A defeat would be his 20th loss, dragging his success rate down to 35.48 per cent – the lowest of any Wallabies coach in the professional era.
Kiss sat among the fans at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane last Saturday as Australia lost 42-26 to France, but Waugh said the former Reds coach had been actively involved with the team outside game days. Kiss will take charge of the Wallabies before their Test against Japan on August 8.
“We’re very confident in the process we’ve run, in the orderly, disciplined transition that we’ll be having,” Waugh said.
“He’s [Kiss] been in and around the group for an extended period now; he’s been involved in all our contracting discussions. He’s been involved in selection discussions. Les has been heavily involved in and around the group and in and around the coaching group.
“Part of the plan was exactly this, for him to be in and around the group and training, but when we get to game day and match day, it is Joe’s team and Joe’s leading the team.
“We don’t need players looking at the incoming coach thinking about what happens in two weeks’ time. You’ve got to leave it in the moment. Joe’s the boss, Joe’s the coach and everyone’s very, very clear on that.”
Despite their poor form, the Wallabies have sold out stadiums in Sydney and Brisbane for Tests against Ireland and France. Waugh believes progress is being made, but acknowledged that results need to follow.
“I’ve always said when I was playing anyone can put on a gold jersey, but ultimately when you put on a gold jersey you’ve got a responsibility to perform and you’ve got a responsibility to win Test matches for the Australian people,” he said.
“Now I’ve got a responsibility to the Australian public to put rugby in the best possible position I can, and so I absolutely understand from the Australian public the expectations that are set for our teams in gold and the expectation that we need to be winning.
So I don’t think anyone shies away from that. As we know, it is ultimately a results business and we get that ... we need to shift the needle on the win-loss ratio, which will be the real accelerator in terms of that engagement with the community.”
Ahead of the World Cup, the Wallabies’ depth remains an issue, despite Schmidt giving 24 Test debuts during his time in charge.
The loss Ben Donaldson and Carter Gordon to calf injuries left Schmidt relying on Test debutant Declan Meredith to start at five eighth against France, even though he had only 18 games of experience in the position for the Brumbies in Super Rugby. Jock Campbell was the replacement cover for Meredith despite never starting in the No.10 jersey in Super Rugby.
Donaldson has trained in Perth and is hopeful of being fit for the Italy Test.
Waugh said the selection policy of prioritising players based in Australia would remain, but that can be “fluid” if needed for essential positions.
“I think there’s no doubt that some other countries have far more depth than what we have, so we need to ensure that we are doing what we can to ensure all our best players are fit and available and ready to win Test matches,” Waugh said.
“There is an element of fortune that you need when you go through into the World Cup around player availability and your best players being fit. Because of the nature of our depth, that’s not as strong as others.
“I think that we’ve always said that our priority is players based in Australia for the reasons that we’ve described before. However, if there was a compelling enough reason for us to entertain the conversation of broadening the number [of overseas polayers] that we’ve historically selected, then that would be a conversation that we’d explore.”
Despite the Wallabies’ poor recent record, Waugh remains confident they can lift the Webb Ellis Cup in 2027 in Australia.
“Absolutely [the Wallabies can win], but there’s obviously a lot of variables that can happen between now and then,” he said.
