Les Kiss finally set for Wallabies coaching coronation
One hundred and eighteen days on from when Rugby Australia first flagged having some clarity on the Wallabies coach for the run to Rugby World Cup 2027, Queensland Reds boss and former State of Origin winger Les Kiss will finally be unveiled in the role on Wednesday.
In a move that will come as a surprise to nobody, RA boss Phil Waugh will formally announce Kiss as outgoing coach Joe Schmidt’s replacement in Sydney, before the Queenslander then hops on a flight to Suva to finalise the Reds’ preparations for their crunch Super Rugby Pacific clash with Fijian Drua on Saturday.
It will be a momentary switch of thinking for Kiss, who is desperate to guide the Reds to the Super Rugby title knowing he will now not have a third season at Ballymore in which to do so.
Kiss will formally take charge of the Wallabies after this year’s Rugby Championship, but it is expected he will join Schmidt at some stage throughout that tournament to begin the handover.
It is believed he has signed a two-year deal that will take him through to the end of Rugby World Cup 2027, with the possibility of an extension thereafter. The Reds had originally hoped that Kiss may return to Ballymore and oversee the team’s 2026 Super Rugby campaign, as per his original contract, but the prospect of managing two professional teams posed too great a workload.
ESPN understands there were some tense negotiations between RA and the QRU before Kiss was eventually released from the final year of his contract. Sources with knowledge of the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity said RA executives entered negotiations expecting to “ride roughshod over the QRU” to demand Kiss’ release.
A compensation pay out has since been approved by the RA board, securing Kiss’ release from the final year of his Reds deal.
The Reds, having identified and recruited Kiss after Brad Thorn’s departure, and then built a successful coaching team around him, did not take kindly to RA’s overbearing approach, particularly given the team had taken significant strides in the past two years, playing a brand of rugby that was starting to bring the crowds back to Suncorp Stadium.
The fact that 16,924 people showed up to watch the Reds down the Blues on Friday night, in terrible conditions, reflects the growing affinity for the team in Brisbane. They also enjoyed a season-high crowd of 20,072 for the visit of the Waratahs earlier in the year.
Given the Queensland Rugby Union continues to operate the Reds’ Super Rugby license, unlike the Waratahs and Brumbies who are now both operated by RA, it is no surprise that heels were dug in deep at Ballymore.
Still, RA boss Phil Waugh insisted recently that the RA was happy with the alignment it had across the Australian rugby ecosystem, describing it as being “very healthy”.
Kiss’ eventual coronation to the top job in Australian rugby comes more than 20 years after he first ventured into rugby coaching as the Springboks’ defence coach in 2001. He has since held assistant roles with the Waratahs, Australia Under 21, Australia A and eventually with Ireland, where he worked under Schmidt, before he became director of rugby at Irish province Ulster and then with London Irish in England.
London Irish’s banishment from the Premiership in 2023 left Kiss a free agent, when the QRU then moved to bring him home as coach of the Reds on a three-year deal.
While acknowledging his interest in the role early in the piece, Kiss was loathe to speak on the subject even when it was confirmed Schmidt would only be extending his tenure six games beyond the original contract he signed at the beginning of last year.
Kiss’ time under Schmidt had always put him in pole position to replace the New Zealander, particularly given the former All Blacks assistant had flagged his interest in maintaining a relationship with the Wallabies in a consultancy role.
Kiss’ first game as Wallabies coach will come against Japan in Tokyo, where he will face off with one of his predecessors in Eddie Jones.
Attention will soon turn to who, if any, of his Queensland assistants Kiss decides to take with him to the Wallabies. Forwards coach Zane Hilton is highly rated at Ballymore, with the QRU potentially keen to have him succeed Kiss as Reds coach.
What that means for current Wallabies assistants Laurie Fisher, Geoff Parling and Mike Cron is also unknown, though famed Kiwi scrum coach Cron could potentially fulfil a consultancy role like the one Schmidt is expected to step into.
Source: espn.com