{"id":290922,"date":"2025-11-17T18:43:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T18:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/290922\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T18:43:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T18:43:13","slug":"rugby-australia-chief-backs-schmidt-to-stay-the-course-until-july-handover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/290922\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby Australia chief backs Schmidt to stay the course until July handover"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe\u2019ll continue to do that to ensure that we continue that level of continuity and consistency within that environment, with Joe taking us through to the end of the Nations Championship at the end of July.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very confident with the strategy we have in place, confident with the integration into a new coach after the Nations Championship.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Joe<\/p>\n

Joe Schmidt and Wallabies captain Harry Wilson in Dublin.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Waugh also doubled down on Schmidt\u2019s commitment to the job, despite the New Zealander being due to depart the role in eight months.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom everything I\u2019ve seen and experienced with Joe from the moment that he committed to Australian rugby right through to standing here today, that level of commitment is absolutely 100 percent,\u201d Waugh said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know because I\u2019m corresponding with him frequently in terms of the hours that he\u2019s doing to elevate the Wallabies and their performances.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlso, there\u2019s the broader connection across the Australian rugby community, and there\u2019s never been a question of his commitment at any stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s one of the elements that makes Joe such an impressive guy is just that he\u2019s brutally honest and he\u2019s absolutely committed to whatever he puts his word to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Wallabies<\/p>\n

Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt helped turn around Australian rugby after the 2023 World Cup but is facing a challenging end to the jobCredit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Kiss has been in Europe during the Spring tour, spending time with Schmidt before he returns to lead the Reds ahead of the Super Rugby season and Waugh is confident that the handover will benefit the Wallabies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat transition of Les (Kiss) into the head coaching role, working closely with Joe, we must ensure we\u2019ve got continuity across the broader management team, because I certainly don\u2019t want it to be a fresh start.<\/p>\n

Loading<\/p>\n

\u201cIt needs to be continued progress and continued continuity and that\u2019s why we\u2019ve secured a lot of the management through to the end of the 2027 Rugby World Cup to ensure that there is that level of continuity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe relationship that Joe and Les have, it\u2019s been a long one. They\u2019ve coached together, they\u2019ve been in the same environment together and they\u2019ve got the same cultural beliefs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Waugh acknowledged the disappointment of the results in Europe and hoped that the Australian rugby public would set the defeats into the context of the whole season, which have included victories against South Africa in Johannesburg and the Lions in Sydney.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhilst we\u2019ve had a disappointing few weeks, I think that people hopefully can reflect on the journey that we\u2019re on and the progress that\u2019s been made,\u201d Waugh said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhilst the tour has been disappointing in terms of results, you reflect on where we were 12 months ago and then the journey into the Lions Series and obviously the victories within the Rugby Championship…<\/p>\n

\u201cI know we\u2019ve got a responsibility to all those that are watching and following, ultimately it\u2019s our responsibility to perform and there are no excuses being made. We understand that responsibility and the players understand that responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe\u2019ll continue to do that to ensure that we continue that level of continuity and consistency within that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290923,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-290922","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}