Rugby Australia boss Phil Waugh has backed in under fire Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt for his final three Tests next year despite an underwhelming end-of-year tour that resulted in one win from five Tests.

Following an historic win in Johannesburg over the world champion Springboks that saw the side overcome a 22-point deficit, the Wallabies have since seen a decline in performance finishing the year with just five wins from 15 Tests including only one from eight to close out the year.

After they capitulated to a 48-33 defeat to France on Sunday morning [AEDT], the Wallabies succumbed to their worst calendar year in history with 10 defeats while they also became the first Wallabies side to go winless through Europe in 67 years.

Not shying away from the poor results Schmidt pleaded with Wallabies fans on Sunday morning following their loss in Paris, asking fans “please don’t give up on them” after they entered the halftime break with scores locked at 19-all before they conceded 15 points in the final 15-minutes to finish their tour winless.

Speaking to reporters following the loss Schmidt said he would be “disappointed” if he couldn’t see out his contract but added he would step away from the role if RA believed it was best for the team.

France’s number eight Gregory Alldritt makes a run through the Wallabies’ defence. Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP via Getty Images

“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.”

Originally contracted until the end of the British and Irish Lions tour, Schmidt’s contract was extended to include the Rugby Championship given the tight turn around between the two tournaments. In April it was further decided to extend his contract once more through to mid-2026 in order to accommodate a smooth transition between Schmidt and incumbent coach Les Kiss.

The one-year extension will allow Kiss to finish out his three-year contract with the Queensland Reds while Schmidt will lead the Wallabies through the first three Nations Championship Test against Ireland, Italy and France in Australia in July.

But given the Wallabies’ disastrous tour results which has seen Schmidt close in on even more unwanted history of holding the worst win rate (39 per cent) for an Australian coach of 20 or more Tests, questions are now being asked if RA should end the coach’s contract now.

Despite the results Waugh remains steadfast in his belief Schmidt is the man to lead the Wallabies next year, telling NewsCorp the coach had made a “transformational” impact on the Wallabies and there would be no plans to move the New Zealander on early.

“Obviously pretty keen to have a seamless transition across to Les Kiss,” Waugh said.

“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.”

The gruelling 15-Test campaign came into focus late in the year with player fatigue brought into question after the players failed to close out matches through the Autumn Nations series and will no doubt be brought into question through the Wallabies’ season review.

Disappointingly for the Wallabies, their failed end-of-year campaign also consigned them to seventh place on the World Rugby rankings, failing to secure a top six seeding for the 2027 Rugby World Cup draw scheduled for next week.

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While the Wallabies will sit in Pool A as tournament hosts, they will now be drawn alongside one of the top six nations in the world, adding another degree of difficulty to their home World Cup campaign.

“It was obviously disappointing to finish seventh,” Waugh 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.”

Despite the recent run of results the RA boss said the side was still on the right trajectory for the World Cup after they bombed out of the pool phase at the 2023 World Cup in France.

“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.”