{"id":673882,"date":"2026-05-16T02:58:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T02:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/673882\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T02:58:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T02:58:16","slug":"australian-rugby-union-former-north-sydney-bears-winger-les-kiss-is-the-right-man-to-coach-the-wallabies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/673882\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian Rugby union: Former North Sydney Bears winger Les Kiss is the right man to coach the Wallabies"},"content":{"rendered":"

May 16, 2026 \u2014 9:30am<\/p>\n

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There will be a predictable reaction if the Brumbies and Reds are knocked out before the Super Rugby Pacific semi-finals \u2013 especially since Reds coach Les Kiss is about to take the reins at the Wallabies.<\/p>\n

Australian rugby will be declared in disarray and the Wallabies doomed, especially since a cash bonus component in the most recent broadcasting deal was linked to Super Rugby and Wallabies wins.<\/p>\n

\"LesLes Kiss will take over from Joe Schmidt as Wallabies coach.Getty Images<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that simple. While no Australian team has raised the ceiling in terms of performance this year, the Western Force have raised the floor.<\/p>\n

The gap between the \u201cbest\u201d Australian team and the \u201cworst\u201d is very small. As long as all four have shown some quality this year \u2013 and they have \u2013 there is no reason to believe this Super Rugby model is worse than having a title-winning outfit at the top and a weak team at the bottom.<\/p>\n

In fact, one of the attributes of the current Springboks team that no one discusses is the near-total lack of club-level titles among its players and coaches.<\/p>\n

How many Super Rugby and European crowns have Rassie Erasmus or Siya Kolisi won? None. And it\u2019s a story that is repeated throughout their squad.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Reds\u2019 attack is the best of the four Australian Super Rugby sides.Getty Images<\/p>\n

For a whole host of complex reasons, South African franchises don\u2019t win much, but that hasn\u2019t stopped them from becoming back-to-back world champions.<\/p>\n

But there is another reason Australia shouldn\u2019t be too despondent: the Reds\u2019 attack shape and the promise that Kiss will bring some of that into the Wallabies when he takes over at the end of July.<\/p>\n

At their best, the Reds\u2019 attack is reminiscent of Argentina, who had the best attack in world rugby last year. Forget about the stats \u2013 in terms of performance, Los Pumas\u2019 attack was not only the most pleasing to the eye, it was near maximum capacity.<\/p>\n

With the players they have available, Argentina probably shouldn\u2019t have caused as much defensive havoc as they did, but thankfully rugby isn\u2019t played on paper.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Pumas have stunned the All Blacks and Springboks with their attacking prowess.Getty Images<\/p>\n

At times, they cut opponents such as the All Blacks and Springboks to shreds with their back play, and sources have told this column they did it by taking inspiration from rugby league under attack coach Kenny Lynn.<\/p>\n

The Pumas\u2019 backs \u201cfold\u201d heavily around the corner, giving the impression that about 1000 players are in motion. They simply overload defences with numbers because players such as their blindside winger and fullback work hard.<\/p>\n

The Reds are without a doubt the Australian Super Rugby team that most closely resembles this, which is why the \u201cJunkyard Dog\u201d, Tim Ryan, has had an excellent season without necessarily compiling the highlights-reel moments of his breakout year.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Jack<\/a><\/p>\n

Similarly, clever players such as Jock Campbell have been everywhere this season, while No.10 Harry McLaughlin-Phillips is playing above himself and may struggle to match that influence if he moves clubs next year.<\/p>\n

It hasn\u2019t necessarily translated into wins (although they are 2-3 against the Kiwi sides so far, and were arguably a few calls away last week from reversing that record) but the attacking intent the Reds are showing is in sync with where the game is moving.<\/p>\n

Last November\u2019s Test window, as a product, was patchy, but the Six Nations was a superb advertisement for attacking rugby, facilitated by a lighter-touch approach from the refereeing teams and, as this column understands it, some gentle prodding by World Rugby about what the game could look like.<\/p>\n

The Reds\u2019 attacking style suits this subtle shift, and the Wallabies\u2019 performances at the end of 2025 indicated they needed fresh ideas with ball in hand.<\/p>\n

Without resorting to cliches, there is a hint of \u201cthe Australian way\u201d in how Kiss has set up the Reds. They play tough, but they play with ambition. Fundamentally, this is based on working hard without the ball and possessing a high skill set to pass under pressure.<\/p>\n

No one should be any under illusion about the challenges facing Australian rugby. The Wallabies are No.8 in the world for a reason.<\/p>\n

There will be a whole range of ways to measure success or failure under Kiss, but just months out from the coach officially taking over, it can be boiled down to one question: Do you think the Wallabies can get better under the former North Sydney Bears winger? And the answer is yes.<\/p>\n

Watch every match of Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> live and exclusive on Stan Sport<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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\"PaulPaul Cully<\/a> is a rugby columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"May 16, 2026 \u2014 9:30am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":673883,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-673882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673882","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=673882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/673883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=673882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=673882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=673882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}