The drawn-out appointment of Les Kiss as the next Wallabies coach will be finally confirmed on Wednesday, with the Queensland coach becoming the fifth man to hold the role in six years.
After a lengthy negotiation, Kiss will be announced as the successor to outgoing Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt, who announced in February he will depart at the conclusion of the Rugby Championship in October.
Kiss has long been regarded as the front-runner to succeed Schmidt, but after a series of interviews earlier in the year, negotiations with Rugby Australia and the Queensland Rugby Union about Kiss’ contractual release dragged on.
After returning from England to take over the Reds at the end of 2023, Kiss was contracted to the QRU until the end of 2026. But a release that allows Kiss to step up to the Wallabies role has been secured with the QRU.
Kiss will front a media conference on Sydney on Wednesday morning, before joining the Reds in Fiji ahead of their game against the Drua on Saturday.
Kiss is well-known in Australia as a former State of Origin and Kangaroos winger, who played 100 games for the North Sydney Bears in the 1980s and 1990s.
Reds coach Les Kiss will be the successor to Joe Schmidt at the Wallabies.Credit: Getty
But after a short career in rugby league coaching post-retirement, Kiss began working in rugby union as a defence coach with the Springboks in 2001 via a chance meeting.
It began a 25-year career in rugby coaching, which has seen Kiss coach at some of the biggest clubs in the world. He worked as defence coach for the Waratahs before moving to Ireland, where he was a member of the coaching staff for the Ireland national side.
Kiss helped Ireland win a Six Nations title in 2009 (and the first Grand Slam in 61 years) and again with Schmidt in 2014-15. Kiss also went to two World Cups, and in 2011 helped derailed the Wallabies tournament with an upset win, in no small part due to a masterful tactic he created: the choke-tackle.
Kiss always held an aspiration to become a head coach in rugby, however, and after a successful interim stint coaching Ireland between the Kidney and Schmidt eras, the Australian was appointed as director of rugby at Irish province Ulster.
After three years in Belfast, Kiss moved to England and became head coach of London Irish, where he continued to coach against the best teams in Europe until the club went belly-up in 2023.
The Queensland job became vacant at the same time, leading Kiss to make a return home.
Kiss had amply proved his coaching credentials at the Reds, finishing fifth last year and having the team well-positioned in fourth spot this season.
“I played rugby league as a kid but I am 25 years now in rugby, and that’s far longer than I ever played or coached at the highest level in league,” Kiss said last year.
“The league got me here and I love the game still, but I am fortunate to have a history and a life in both. There has definitely been a lot of water under the bridge, between leaving and coming back here.”
“I guess I was hungry to make sure I made it in union. It was a project for me. It was a personal drive and ambition to make sure I nail this down.
“My journey, you always felt like you had to earn your stripes, as a leaguie. Coming into union, I was very diligent. I researched the game and I became a student of the game. I was patient and I knew I had, not so much to learn, but I knew I had to gain the experiences I needed.”
Former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones endorsed Kiss as a Test calibre coach last week.
Les Kiss and Joe Schmidt with Ireland in 2015.Credit: Getty
“He’s done a great apprenticeship,” Jones said.
“He coached in Ulster, did great job at London Irish, and had a number of good mentors around him. He seems to have done a pretty good job at the Reds, so it’s a good opportunity for him. He’s definitely done a lot of good hard work, so I hope it goes well for him.”
