Les Kiss has been waiting patiently in the wings since being announced as Joe Schmidt’s successor for the Wallabies top job in April last year. The diminutive Bundaberg-born league winger for the North Sydney Bears has never played rugby union. But he is now the man with the game’s toughest gig: resurrecting the Wallabies from No 8 in the world to win the World Cup in just 15 months’ time.
Now, as the stardust settles on Schmidt’s final game – a 56-10 shellacking of Italy in Perth on Sunday – the Kiss era has officially begun. A new-look Wallabies squad was unveiled on Thursday by the new head coach and a fresh brains trust charged with leading Australian rugby to the promised land – a World Cup on home soil in 2027.
