Joe Schmidt leaving! 16-man longlist to take the Wallabies job including an All Blacks snub which could be ‘detrimental’ for the Springboks
Planet Rugby takes a deep dive into who Australia could turn to as they search for Joe Schmidt's successor.
It’s official. Joe Schmidt will leave his role as Wallabies head coach in 2025, albeit at a later date than initially slated.
Rugby Australia (RA) have confirmed that Schmidt has extended his contract, which was due to expire after the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour and will now stay in the role for this year’s Rugby Championship.
The delay in the experienced coach’s departure provides RA Director of High Performance, Peter Horne, an extended period of time to find his successor.
We take a look at who could feature on Horne’s list from the sensible frontrunners to the absurd that may just be raised in conversation.
Front runners: Les Kiss, Dan McKellar
Even before Schmidt’s appointment, RA Chief Executive Phil Waugh expressed a desire to have an Australian coaching the national team.
“I genuinely believe our competitive advantage in sport is being Australian, so we need to ensure there’s a really strong Australian flavour within the coaching structure,” he said back in December 2023.
“Whether that includes the head coach or not is less relevant, it’s around the culture installed across the broader coaching group.
“We’re really open-minded around whether the coach is an Australian or a foreigner, as long as the broader coaching environment is very Australian.”
That mentality is likely to remain the same with Australian coaches given preference. Rumours circled late last year that RA were lining up Queensland Reds boss and Schmidt’s old right-hand Les Kiss as his successor.
Kiss has a polished coaching career having started at the Waratahs before heading up Ulster and London Irish before their demise.
He has also worked as an assistant to Ireland under Schmidt and had an earlier stint with the Springboks in the early 2000s.
The Queensland Reds are understood to not be keen on letting their coach go after just two seasons at the helm after impressing in his first Super Rugby campaign in 2024.
Kiss played down talk of him talking over from Schmidt earlier this month, telling ESPN: “Myself, Zane Hilton, Brad Davis, Hayley Cronin – they’re my key performance people – we’ve got a contract here for this year and next year, that’s our focus.”
Meanwhile, Dan McKellar has been hugely successful in Australia after years of success with the Brumbies and as a Wallabies assistant. He will certainly be right up on the pecking order despite his disappointing stint with Leicester Tigers.
He will look to turn things around at the Waratahs and also took a rather diplomatic route when asked about the potential of him taking charge of the Wallabies having been in the mix to replace Eddie Jones before Schmidt was appointed.
“No, I’m just head down, bum up, just getting stuck into this,” he said.
“I’m genuinely keen and excited. I think if we can get things right here, that’s going to help Rugby Australia. I’ve come back to help [and] I think I can do that.
“Mate, I’m contracted here for the next three years, so that’s all I’m worrying about. We’ll give Joe the space that he needs to make his decision and crack on.”
Rugby Australia suffer setback as potential Joe Schmidt successors make their positions very clear
In the mix: Michael Cheika, Stephen Larkham
Staying on the theme of Australians who will likely get preference, Michael Cheika and Stephen Larkham will surely come into consideration.
Cheika stepped away from the Wallabies head coaching role after the 2019 Rugby World Cup having memorably turned things around in Australia brilliantly to reach the World Cup final four years prior.
Since then, he has enjoyed stunning success with Argentina both as an assistant and as a head coach, helping Los Pumas reach the semi-finals of the 2023 World Cup.
The charismatic coach took over from McKellar at Leicester last year and has been an instant hit in the Premiership and is admired hugely by the players and fans. He is set to leave the Tigers at the end of the current season, purely down to personal reasons as he wishes to return Down Under. It is believed that Cheika will wait for an opening in the NRL as he wishes to be closer to his family but the prospect of heading up the Wallabies again may be just too tempting, particularly with a home World Cup on the horizon.
Appointing Cheika would likely result in a mixed reaction from the public because of his previous stint in charge but plenty of time has passed since then and an experienced coach of his stature cannot be ignored.
Meanwhile, Wallabies great Stephen Larkham could add to his illustrious story with the national team by taking on the top coaching gig Down Under. The legendary fly-half has worked as an assistant several times in the past and is currently leading the Brumbies. Larkham hasn’t been quite as successful as a head coach as the aforementioned coaches but he is one that understands the ‘Australian Way’ of playing more than just about anyone.
Outside bets: Simon Cron, Kevin Foote, Jamie Joseph
Simon Cron is an outside bet but not one that should be completely discarded. The Western Force head coach is highly respected in Australian circles. He has headed up Northern Suburbs, the Sydney Rays, Australia U20s and Toyota Verblitz previously. While he is New Zealand-born, he has spent the majority of his coaching career in Australia and will surely make the initial long list at the very least.
Meanwhile, former Melbourne Rebels head coach Kevin Foote could be enticed back to Australia after returning to South Africa to lead the U20s. Foote is another coach who is held in high regard in Australian circles, particularly after the Rebels’ impressive performance in their final season in Super Rugby under incredibly difficult circumstances. Would he be willing to come back to Australia though after being integrated into the SA Rugby system?
Another foreign coach who is bound to get a mention at the very least, Jamie Joseph enjoyed unprecedented success with Japan at the highest level, leading the side to their first Rugby World Cup quarter-final knocking over Ireland and Scotland in the pool stages. The Brave Blossoms were unable to navigate through a challenging pool stage in 2023 but that did not dent Joseph’s reputation.
He has returned to the Highlanders this year after twice being overlooked for the All Blacks gig and it would not be the first time that Wallabies turned to the man deemed surplus to requirements for the top job in New Zealand. Joseph would be a statement appointment from Rugby Australia and with proven success with an underdog World Cup hosting country, his CV should be pushed to the front of the queue, if he is interested and if not, Rugby Australia should pick up the phone at the very least.
Appointing Joseph would likely have a knock-on effect on the Springboks as it could result in Tony Brown switching allegiances. Brown is currently helping the Highlanders with their preparations for the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific season but will link up with the Springboks later this year. The ex-fly-half was courted by the All Blacks to lead their attack but turned down the offer as it ‘didn’t feel right’.
“I obviously had a really good relationship with Jamie Joseph and if he had got the All Blacks coaching job, then 100 per cent I would have been in with him,” he told the Behind the Ruck podcast.
Later adding: “Now he [Joseph] is not coaching any more and as soon as Rassie rang me, I said yes. I’ve got so much respect for what Rassie’s done with South Africa, I’m just excited to be part of it, watch him operate, learn from him and all the other coaches.”
While he said that he is committed to the Boks until the World Cup, Joseph getting the Wallabies gig may change things significantly and his departure could be detrimental for South Africa.
Wild cards: Dave Rennie, Robbie Deans, Kieran Crowley, Simon Raiwalui, Vern Cotter
While free-agent coaches are few and far between nowadays, the lure of international rugby will always attract the biggest names in the game regardless of where they are coaching right now, especially for the traditional powerhouses.
Two real wild cards would be the return of Robbie Deans or Dave Rennie, both of which left the Wallabies top job on unsavouring terms. In the case of Deans, he has not got a sniff at an international job since leaving the job in 2013 but has turned the Wild Knights into a nigh-on unbeatable team in Japan. He would undoubtedly be a more than capable appointment but RA may need to loosen the purse strings again to secure his return if he does not have a release clause.
Meanwhile, it might be too soon for Rennie who is also in Japan leading up the Kobe Steelers. One thing that does play in Australia’s favour with the ex-head coach is that those who dismissed him to hire Jones have now left the union. Could he be tempted to reunite with the Wallabies and restart his project with the team? Only time will tell.
Staying in Japan and ex-Italy head coach Kieran Crowley could also be considered after his success with the Azzurri. What makes Crowley a tantalising prospect is the manner in which he was able to get the most out of the limited playing stock that he had at his disposal. He is currently working with Honda Heat in Japan and would surely be eager to return to the international stage.
A more unlikely candidate but one that could be an inspired appointment would be ex-Fiji boss and current Waratahs general manager Simon Raiwalui. The Fijian has experience working with the national team as their scrum coach and brilliantly guided Fiji to the World Cup quarter-finals having taken on the role earlier that year.
Finally, the man that Raiwalui replaced at Fiji, Vern Cotter. The New Zealander made an instant impact at the Blues guiding the team to their first full Super Rugby title in 21 years. The 63-year-old has an extensive CV spanning with stints around the world including the top job with Scotland between 2014 and 2017 which came after a commanding stint at the helm of Clermont.
Why not?: Frans Ludeke, Ronan O’Gara, Johan Ackermann, Franco Smith
Schmidt was without a doubt a statement appointment by Rugby Australia and they are not short of options if they want to do the same with his successor.
They could do just that if they manage to snap up the services of Glasgow Warriors head coach Franco Smith who is in huge demand. Smith led the Warriors to URC success in 2024 and has turned the Scottish outfit into a true powerhouse of European rugby. He is reportedly heading the list to replace Cheika at the Tigers and is understood to be one of the candidates to potentially take over from Gregor Townsend after the World Cup if the ex-Scotland pivot’s contract is not extended. Swooping in for Smith would be a huge coup.
Sticking on the theme of South Africans, Frans Ludeke is never really raised in the conversation when Test vacancies emerge as the former Bulls head coach flies very much under the radar. He was overlooked for the Japan job with Jones favoured but has enjoyed success everywhere he has gone. He has taken the Kubota Spears to relatively unknown entities in Japanese rugby to a title in 2023.
Legendary Ireland fly-half Ronan O’Gara has been a huge success at French club La Rochelle and has been tipped to make the step up to international rugby. When asked if he would consider the Wales job last year, he said: “Without lacking humility, I’d prefer Ireland, England or France.”
None of those three jobs are vacant or the unions aren’t recruiting right now but O’Gara’s arm could be twisted as top international jobs don’t come around too often.
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Ex-Lions head coach Johan Ackermann is currently working in an advisory role with SA Rugby but it’s clear that he has ambitions to coach at the highest level particularly after Erasmus was preferred instead back in 2019. Now that he isn’t a full-time head coaching role, Ackermann could well be tempted to take up the Wallabies gig especially if the carrot of the Springboks job is not there for him.
Surely not: Eddie Jones, Steve Borthwick
After the 2023 Rugby World Cup debacle, surely Rugby Australia won’t turn to Eddie Jones. While he remains one of the top international coaches in the world and has the pedigree to do the job, the relationship with the fans and media has soured in Australia for him to return for a third go.
Pressure is mounting on Jones’ former assistant Steve Borthwick who is in charge of England currently. If he is dismissed, he might be one that may be raised in conversation but surely not that’s how far it goes.
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