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He might have won just one of his last eight Tests, but Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh has shut down any talk of Joe Schmidt bowing out early as Wallabies coach.

After initially signing on until the end of the Lions series, Schmidt extended his stay until the end of The Rugby Championship before finally agreeing in April to coach the Wallabies through until mid-2026.

The one-year extension was conjured up to allow Les Kiss to finish his three-year tenure with the Queensland Reds, before replacing Schmidt, who he worked with at Ireland between 2013 and 2015, at the helm of the Wallabies following next July’s three Nations Championship fixtures on Australian soil.

But the Wallabies’ disastrous finish to 2025, which saw the men in gold slump to a 67-year first by going winless in Europe over four Tests, brought into question whether RA should make a clean exit heading into the new year.

Schmidt said he would be “disappointed” if he couldn’t see out his role, but speaking to reporters following the Wallabies’ latest defeat – a 48-33 loss to France in Paris over the weekend – added that he would step away if RA thought it was best for the team.

“Unless somebody else can do a better job, I’m happy to step away,” he said.

“I was only really going to be here until the end of the Lions. And then six days later, we were assembling to fly to South Africa. And I understood that it was very hard for someone to come in and suddenly take over at that stage, and then because of the very tight window before we even came away on tour, again, it’s very hard for someone suddenly to come in.

“As I said before, I absolutely admire this group of young men who are trying really hard.

“So if there’s a sense that somebody else can come in and do a better job, that’s certainly not for me to say. I’ll just play golf a bit sooner.”

But Waugh, who announced Schmidt as Eddie Jones’ successor in January 2024, told News Corp that the New Zealander had had a “transformational” impact on the Wallabies on Tuesday.

In an earlier interview on SEN Breakfast, Waugh said he was confident that he was confident in the plan of having Kiss join Schmidt next July before taking the reins.

“Obviously pretty keen to have a seamless transition across to Les Kiss,” said Waugh, who was up north to watch the final four defeats in the year.

“I mean, you speak to any rugby person around the world and Joe Schmidt is right up there with the best coaches anywhere around the globe.

“To have Joe continue through the Rugby Championship and then the Spring Tour, and then we’ll have three Test matches against the three teams we just lost to actually – Ireland, France and Italy in July – and post those three Test matches Les Kiss will take over.

“What we’re looking at is that level of continuity, and Joe and Les have coached a lot for Ireland… It’s certainly a good plan, we’ve just got to execute on it now.”

Phil Waugh says Joe Schmidt is one of the best coaches in the world and he’s confident in the plan for Les Kiss to take the reins post next year’s Nations Championship Tests in July. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

Rugby Australia has yet to run a review on the Wallabies’ season, given their 15-Test campaign only just wrapped up.

But it won’t take long for RA’s high performance team to work out where they went wrong, having blown countless opportunities over the past couple of months in the air and at the set-piece.

Whether RA plan to play 15 Tests in a calendar year remains to be seen too, with Schmidt saying he hadn’t experienced a gruelling campaign quite like it.

Despite an encouraging first half of the international season, the Wallabies’ struggles, where they won just five of 15 Tests, meant Schmidt missed a top six seeding for the 2027 World Cup.  

Waugh said it wasn’t all doom and gloom but admitted it was far from ideal ahead of December’s draw.

“It was obviously disappointing to finish seventh,” he said. “We certainly wanted to be in the top six.

“Ultimately, we’ll always be in Pool A because we’re the host country, but it would have been nice to go in as number one seed in Pool A, whereas we’ll be going in as number two seed for Pool A. Not ideal but we’ve got to be better.”

Waugh, however, remained steadfast that the Wallabies were on track for a stronger performance in 2027, having bombed out in the pool stages of the 2023 tournament in France for the first time.

“I think it was disappointing in terms of results, but if you look over the past 12 months at the progress the Wallabies have made, it’s been pleasing to see,” he said.

“Clearly going to the north and losing four on the trot is not ideal.

“But I think what that shows is just how competitive international rugby is at the moment, the top ten teams right across the globe can beat each other on any given day and, unfortunately, in the critical moments we just weren’t good enough up in the north, but there’s certainly progress being made.

“If you look at the 2027 World Cup and work your way backwards, there’s still plenty of time – and we need to win those critical moments.”