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“So, I guess with the loyalty that you have to the group you’re working with, you can’t suddenly swap sides. That’s how I feel anyway.”
Schmidt sidestepped questions about a role with the Wallabies through to the 2027 Rugby World Cup, saying he would be travelling to Dublin to spend time with his new grandson after handing over to Les Kiss in July.
But in a further blow to New Zealand rugby, who’d hoped to get Schmidt back into their high-performance system, he said he doesn’t see himself coaching after the looming World Cup.
Schmidt also opened up on several other issues in Australian rugby, including how the unusual handover to Kiss will work and his thoughts on NRL star Angus Crichton’s transition to rugby.
Schmidt will coach the Wallabies in three Tests before Kiss takes control. The Reds coach will, however, be involved in selecting the Wallabies squad for those Tests, and will join the team camp for some, or all, of the month, depending on how far Queensland progress in Super Rugby.
Joe Schmidt and Les Kiss, the current and future Wallabies coaches.Credit: Getty Images
“I’d envisage him being at the selection table for sure, because I’m utterly invested in you know a longer-term vision, albeit it’ll be a short-term focus once we actually get into match weeks there,” Schmidt said. “Our plan … is that he’ll spend the Brisbane week [France] with us and potentially the Perth week [Italy] with us so the last two weeks, and if they [the Reds] go deep he might not be in Sydney.”
Schmidt said decisions around where Crichton would end up in rugby would be “for Les to decide” but he said taking the Roosters recruit on the Spring Tour would be helpful in his move back to the game.
Schmidt handed another Rooster Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii a Test debut at Twickenham in 2024, six weeks after he finished in the NRL, but said a mix of tactics and injuries were a factor there.
Angus Crichton would benefit from going on the Spring Tour, believes Joe Schmidt.Credit: Marija Ercegovac
Kiss will have to weigh up the benefits of giving the Roosters star maximum time to adapt, against the negatives of not using the Spring Tour to bed down the cohesion of a backline headed for the Rugby World Cup.
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“I think with Angus Crichton, with Lenny [Ikitau] being so influential – and I thought he really deserved some of the recognition he got last year – it would be hard to see Lenny being out of the picture,” Schmidt said.
“It would depend on how things panned out, but one of the real advantages of bringing a guy like Angus in early is that he can still train with the team. There’s a lot of time spent on the grass that might not be on the weekend when the cameras are on the players, and so even orientating himself during that period might be part of the transition.”
Schmidt said the findings of the Wallabies’ end-of-season review, which were presented to the squad at a January camp, identified consistency in performance as a major work-on for 2026.
Though the Wallabies fell away in the second-half of the year, the fact an injury-depleted and weary Australian side scored five tries and pushed France past halftime gave Schmidt encouragement about the growth and capability of the squad, particularly after he’d watched France play superbly to beat Ireland in the Six Nations opener on Friday morning in Paris.
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