AND SO, WE’RE into the final chapter of Joe Schmidt’s time in charge of the Wallabies.
Fittingly, it will include a game against Andy Farrell’s Ireland.
The 60-year-old Kiwi has three more matches as head coach next month, with Ireland visiting Sydney and France coming to Brisbane, before Schmidt bows out as the Wallabies host Italy in Perth.
Once that home block of the new Nations Championship is over, Schmidt will hand the reins to another man very familiar to Irish rugby supporters, Les Kiss.
Kiss will take up the mantle of preparing Australia for a hugely important home World Cup next year, with his contract running through to the end of 2028.
But while he is stepping aside as the main man, it seems clear that Schmidt will continue to have an influence on Australian rugby leading into the World Cup. It has already been confirmed that the former Leinster boss will help Stephen Larkham to coach the Australia A team later this year.
And though Kiss, one year Schmidt’s senior, will have his own ideas about how the Wallabies can improve, it would be no surprise if he regularly looks for Schmidt’s counsel.
There will be further continuity with current assistant coaches Tom Donnelly and Eoin Toolan staying in their roles under Kiss. Donnelly works with the forwards, while Irishman Toolan focuses on the kicking game, skills, and opposition tactics. Scrum specialist Mike Cron and fellow assistant Laurie Fisher are expected to carry on in consultant roles as well.
The big new assistant coaching addition is Scott McLeod, who was with his native New Zealand at the last two World Cups and will run the Wallabies’ defence.
Before all of that, Schmidt will be as determined as ever to win the games next month. Farrell and a large group of his Ireland players caused the Aussies pain last summer on the Lions tour.
Ireland are also on a five-game winning streak against the Wallabies, their longest ever, including the 46-19 victory in Dublin last November when Mack Hansen scored a hat-trick. So there are scores to settle here for Schmidt and co.
The game at the 45,000-capacity Allianz Stadium in Sydney has sold out, and there will be a massive Irish contingent in what should be a lively crowd.
Another underwhelming Super Rugby Pacific season for the Australian sides won’t encourage great enthusiasm among the home supporters. Kiss’ Reds team were the pick of the bunch, but they were well beaten by the Chiefs in the knock-outs. The Brumbies, meanwhile, were hammered by the Hurricanes.
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Les Kiss will take over after the July games. Photosport / John Davidson/INPHO
Photosport / John Davidson/INPHO / John Davidson/INPHO
The Wallabies’ squad should have a familiar look to it, with loosehead prop Angus Bell in line to feature after his spell with Ulster finished.
Ireland will stay in Australia for their second game against Japan, whose invitation to join this new competition – which is directly owned by the Six Nations and SANZAAR – included the proviso that all their ‘home’ games wouldn’t actually be in Japan.
Fiji have it even worse after being invited in, with all of their ‘home’ games taking place in the UK. Japan, at least, welcome Italy and France to Toyko on either side of the Ireland match.
As is his wont, Japan head coach Eddie Jones has been upfront in his feelings about how unfair it is for them to have to play Ireland in Newcastle, which is a two-hour drive north of Sydney. Even some of his most ardent critics agree with Jones on this one, but Ireland are saved additional travel.
Jones is now in the midst of a six-week suspension by the Japan Rugby Football Union [JRFU] due to comments he made to a match official on the Japan U23 team’s trip to Australia in April.
Jones couldn’t attend the Japan Rugby League One final last weekend due to that ban – instead heading to Singapore to do some community coaching – and he will miss the Italy Test before returning to match-day duties for the Ireland clash.
The former England boss, who is contracted to the JRFU until the end of next year’s World Cup, now wants his Brave Blossoms team to become the most exciting team in the Nations Championship.
“We want to be the team that everyone wants to watch,” is how he put it this week.
Japan achieved that much at their home World Cup under Jamie Joseph and Tony Brown back in 2019, beating Ireland along the way, but they haven’t been able to make a consistently big dent against top sides since.
Japan Rugby League One continues to attract star players, with Ireland and Leinster’s James Lowe set to join Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath next season, but Jones’s job is to help convert homegrown Japanese players or naturalised foreigners into internationals.
It is said that he is doing fine work within the Japanese rugby pathways, particularly in trying to better connect what is a big university game to the professional level.
Now that Japan have actually been invited to sit at the top table, they will be well aware of the need to make a genuine impression on the pitch.
Unfortunately, first-choice out-half Lee Seung-Sin is sidelined due to injury, but second row Warner Dearns is coming off a brilliant Super Rugby season for the Hurricanes, scrum-half Naoto Saito has done well with Toulouse, and there is some excitement about uncapped 22-year-old fullback Shunsuke Uenobo and newly-eligible lock Esei Ha’angana.
Warner Dearns has been brilliant for the Hurricanes. Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
It seems likely that Ireland will rotate for that clash with Japan, but they will be going all out in their third Test of the window as they bid to make history with a first-ever win at New Zealand’s famous Eden Park.
This will be only Ireland’s fifth time playing there. It’s a real fortress for the All Blacks, who most recently lost a Test at Eden Park in 1994. They have won 50 and drawn two of their last 52 games at the Auckland venue.
Next month is the beginning of the new Dave Rennie era, with the former Chiefs and Glasgow boss coming into the All Blacks hot seat fresh from guiding the Kobe Steelers to the League One title in Japan last weekend. His winning team included Ardie Savea, Brodie Retallick, and Anton Lienert-Brown.
Rennie beat the aforementioned Joseph to the top job in Kiwi rugby, and while there is nearly a completely clean slate in the coaching team, there is one point of overlap from the Scott Robertson reign.
The highly-regarded Jason Ryan has continued as forwards coach, and his influence has been obvious in the All Blacks’ most recent two wins over Ireland. Farrell and co. certainly won’t like the fact that the Kiwis are now on a three-game winning streak against them, particularly because Ireland had broken the previous dominance of this relationship.
Rennie’s senior assistant coach will be the hard-nosed, old-school Neil Barnes. The 67-year-old still farms in his spare time, but his rugby expertise is at the lineout, which he will lead for the All Blacks as Ryan focuses more on scrum and maul.
Tana Umaga is still revered by many of the current All Blacks players and he comes in as Rennie’s defence coach, despite not having particularly extensive experience in that specific role.
Umaga has his detractors in New Zealand when it comes to coaching, yet Rennie clearly believes he can guide the All Blacks in a pivotal area of the game, as well as helping the head coach in his mission to make it a much happier and more connected squad. In that regard, the return of Gilbert Enoka as leadership and mental skills coach could be important.
Even more eyebrows were raised by Rennie naming former Scotland scrum-half Mike Blair as his attack coach. They have been working together with the Kobe Steelers for the last three years and Rennie is a huge admirer of Blair’s intellect and coaching style.
Having played for Scotland 85 times and toured with the Lions in 2009, Blair moved into assistant coaching with Glasgow Warriors before getting the top job at Edinburgh.
Two years later, he stepped down from that position with the refreshingly honest statement that he preferred simply coaching attack. Being head coach took him away from that passion.
Mike Blair is part of the All Blacks set-up. Luca Sighinolfi / INPHO
Luca Sighinolfi / INPHO / INPHO
So he headed off for a new challenge in Kobe in 2023, and that has led to him landing this exciting position with the All Blacks.
New Zealand Rugby has already confirmed the appointment of attack specialist Tony Brown as an All Blacks assistant coach in 2028 – it’s unclear who the head coach will be, with Rennie only contracted until the end of the World Cup – but Blair will be looking to reignite the Kiwi attack after it became stale under Robertson.
This weekend’s Super Rugby semi-finals were made up of four New Zealand sides and it’s clear that the All Blacks still have outstanding talent to work with. The Hurricanes have been particularly good this year.
Rennie’s job is to bring the talent together in a much happier, more cohesive way. As always, New Zealand expects.
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Schmidt, Jones and Rennie look to deny Ireland a happy tour
AND SO, WE’RE into the final chapter of Joe Schmidt’s time in charge of the Wallabies.
Fittingly, it will include a game against Andy Farrell’s Ireland.
The 60-year-old Kiwi has three more matches as head coach next month, with Ireland visiting Sydney and France coming to Brisbane, before Schmidt bows out as the Wallabies host Italy in Perth.
Once that home block of the new Nations Championship is over, Schmidt will hand the reins to another man very familiar to Irish rugby supporters, Les Kiss.
Kiss will take up the mantle of preparing Australia for a hugely important home World Cup next year, with his contract running through to the end of 2028.
But while he is stepping aside as the main man, it seems clear that Schmidt will continue to have an influence on Australian rugby leading into the World Cup. It has already been confirmed that the former Leinster boss will help Stephen Larkham to coach the Australia A team later this year.
And though Kiss, one year Schmidt’s senior, will have his own ideas about how the Wallabies can improve, it would be no surprise if he regularly looks for Schmidt’s counsel.
There will be further continuity with current assistant coaches Tom Donnelly and Eoin Toolan staying in their roles under Kiss. Donnelly works with the forwards, while Irishman Toolan focuses on the kicking game, skills, and opposition tactics. Scrum specialist Mike Cron and fellow assistant Laurie Fisher are expected to carry on in consultant roles as well.
The big new assistant coaching addition is Scott McLeod, who was with his native New Zealand at the last two World Cups and will run the Wallabies’ defence.
Before all of that, Schmidt will be as determined as ever to win the games next month. Farrell and a large group of his Ireland players caused the Aussies pain last summer on the Lions tour.
Ireland are also on a five-game winning streak against the Wallabies, their longest ever, including the 46-19 victory in Dublin last November when Mack Hansen scored a hat-trick. So there are scores to settle here for Schmidt and co.
The game at the 45,000-capacity Allianz Stadium in Sydney has sold out, and there will be a massive Irish contingent in what should be a lively crowd.
Another underwhelming Super Rugby Pacific season for the Australian sides won’t encourage great enthusiasm among the home supporters. Kiss’ Reds team were the pick of the bunch, but they were well beaten by the Chiefs in the knock-outs. The Brumbies, meanwhile, were hammered by the Hurricanes.
The Wallabies’ squad should have a familiar look to it, with loosehead prop Angus Bell in line to feature after his spell with Ulster finished.
Ireland will stay in Australia for their second game against Japan, whose invitation to join this new competition – which is directly owned by the Six Nations and SANZAAR – included the proviso that all their ‘home’ games wouldn’t actually be in Japan.
Fiji have it even worse after being invited in, with all of their ‘home’ games taking place in the UK. Japan, at least, welcome Italy and France to Toyko on either side of the Ireland match.
As is his wont, Japan head coach Eddie Jones has been upfront in his feelings about how unfair it is for them to have to play Ireland in Newcastle, which is a two-hour drive north of Sydney. Even some of his most ardent critics agree with Jones on this one, but Ireland are saved additional travel.
Jones is now in the midst of a six-week suspension by the Japan Rugby Football Union [JRFU] due to comments he made to a match official on the Japan U23 team’s trip to Australia in April.
Jones couldn’t attend the Japan Rugby League One final last weekend due to that ban – instead heading to Singapore to do some community coaching – and he will miss the Italy Test before returning to match-day duties for the Ireland clash.
The former England boss, who is contracted to the JRFU until the end of next year’s World Cup, now wants his Brave Blossoms team to become the most exciting team in the Nations Championship.
“We want to be the team that everyone wants to watch,” is how he put it this week.
Japan achieved that much at their home World Cup under Jamie Joseph and Tony Brown back in 2019, beating Ireland along the way, but they haven’t been able to make a consistently big dent against top sides since.
Japan Rugby League One continues to attract star players, with Ireland and Leinster’s James Lowe set to join Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath next season, but Jones’s job is to help convert homegrown Japanese players or naturalised foreigners into internationals.
It is said that he is doing fine work within the Japanese rugby pathways, particularly in trying to better connect what is a big university game to the professional level.
Now that Japan have actually been invited to sit at the top table, they will be well aware of the need to make a genuine impression on the pitch.
Unfortunately, first-choice out-half Lee Seung-Sin is sidelined due to injury, but second row Warner Dearns is coming off a brilliant Super Rugby season for the Hurricanes, scrum-half Naoto Saito has done well with Toulouse, and there is some excitement about uncapped 22-year-old fullback Shunsuke Uenobo and newly-eligible lock Esei Ha’angana.
It seems likely that Ireland will rotate for that clash with Japan, but they will be going all out in their third Test of the window as they bid to make history with a first-ever win at New Zealand’s famous Eden Park.
This will be only Ireland’s fifth time playing there. It’s a real fortress for the All Blacks, who most recently lost a Test at Eden Park in 1994. They have won 50 and drawn two of their last 52 games at the Auckland venue.
Next month is the beginning of the new Dave Rennie era, with the former Chiefs and Glasgow boss coming into the All Blacks hot seat fresh from guiding the Kobe Steelers to the League One title in Japan last weekend. His winning team included Ardie Savea, Brodie Retallick, and Anton Lienert-Brown.
Rennie beat the aforementioned Joseph to the top job in Kiwi rugby, and while there is nearly a completely clean slate in the coaching team, there is one point of overlap from the Scott Robertson reign.
The highly-regarded Jason Ryan has continued as forwards coach, and his influence has been obvious in the All Blacks’ most recent two wins over Ireland. Farrell and co. certainly won’t like the fact that the Kiwis are now on a three-game winning streak against them, particularly because Ireland had broken the previous dominance of this relationship.
Rennie’s senior assistant coach will be the hard-nosed, old-school Neil Barnes. The 67-year-old still farms in his spare time, but his rugby expertise is at the lineout, which he will lead for the All Blacks as Ryan focuses more on scrum and maul.
Tana Umaga is still revered by many of the current All Blacks players and he comes in as Rennie’s defence coach, despite not having particularly extensive experience in that specific role.
Umaga has his detractors in New Zealand when it comes to coaching, yet Rennie clearly believes he can guide the All Blacks in a pivotal area of the game, as well as helping the head coach in his mission to make it a much happier and more connected squad. In that regard, the return of Gilbert Enoka as leadership and mental skills coach could be important.
Even more eyebrows were raised by Rennie naming former Scotland scrum-half Mike Blair as his attack coach. They have been working together with the Kobe Steelers for the last three years and Rennie is a huge admirer of Blair’s intellect and coaching style.
Having played for Scotland 85 times and toured with the Lions in 2009, Blair moved into assistant coaching with Glasgow Warriors before getting the top job at Edinburgh.
Two years later, he stepped down from that position with the refreshingly honest statement that he preferred simply coaching attack. Being head coach took him away from that passion.
So he headed off for a new challenge in Kobe in 2023, and that has led to him landing this exciting position with the All Blacks.
New Zealand Rugby has already confirmed the appointment of attack specialist Tony Brown as an All Blacks assistant coach in 2028 – it’s unclear who the head coach will be, with Rennie only contracted until the end of the World Cup – but Blair will be looking to reignite the Kiwi attack after it became stale under Robertson.
This weekend’s Super Rugby semi-finals were made up of four New Zealand sides and it’s clear that the All Blacks still have outstanding talent to work with. The Hurricanes have been particularly good this year.
Rennie’s job is to bring the talent together in a much happier, more cohesive way. As always, New Zealand expects.
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