New coach Joe Schmidt ‘desperate’ to help Wallabies’ revival

While the memories and disappointment of last year’s World Cup disaster will live on forever in history for the Wallabies, Rugby Australia believes Joe Schmidt can turn the team around.

Dave Rennie was the coach 13 months ago, and Eddie Jones has since come and gone, but the addition of a coach of Schmidt’s calibre is incredibly exciting for the Wallabies moving forward.

But the news that Schmidt, who won World Rugby’s Coach of the Year in 2018, has signed on with Australia should please everyone, not just Wallabies fans.

The Wallabies are a fallen giant of the international game, and while some may enjoy seeing the traditional powerhouse struggle, it’s not good for the sport. Rugby needs Australia.

Speaking with reporters in his first press conference as the Wallabies’ head coach, New Zealand-born Joe Schmidt explained why he’s “desperate” to help Australian rugby’s revival.

“I’m desperate for the Wallabies to be competitive, and if I can help, that’s why I’m here,” Schmidt explained at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium on Friday.

“I think the global rugby family is desperate for the Wallabies to be where they need to be. British and Irish Lions, they want to have a fantastic series so we want to build toward that and give them exactly what they want and not make anything easy for them.

“Two years after that you’ve got a home World Cup.

“I’m desperate that the Wallabies are really competitive in that World Cup and we get through to those really competitive playoff rounds.”

With Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh and incoming director of high performance, Peter Horne, sitting on either side of Schmidt, all three men were gleaming with optimism.

The British and Irish Lions tour in 2025, and there’s a World Cup on Australian soil two years later. But for now, Rugby Australia can celebrate this first win – they’ve got their world-class coach.

Australian rugby is going through a transition period at the moment, and the results may not be immediate for the Wallabies either – and Schmidt knows that, but it’s all part of the process.

“I can’t say that I’ll succeed or otherwise at the moment. I’m just getting my feet under the desk and trying to get a better measure of who’s out there and what capability they have,” Schmidt said.

“I’ve certainly observed a lot with Australian players obviously preparing to play against them, but getting to know the people behind the player – and if we can get the right people and they can perform on the field, I do think we can build things.

“If we can get the flagship going I think we can start to get the players' aspirations where they need to be.

“I think with Pete trying to build a little bit more alignment through that high-performance system and the pathways strengthen, but I do think it’s also a little bit of a rebuild that will take a little bit of time.

“I’m probably a pragmatist. I can’t promise anything other than I’ll be working really hard to try and make it as successful as it can be and trying to get some early wins on the board.

“Those ‘wins’ might be that we perform better even if we don’t quite get the outcomes that we’re looking for.

“But I’m also a realistic coach. You’re judged on your outcomes and you live or die by them so we’ll be working towards those as well.”

Schmidt has only penned a deal with Rugby Australia through to the British and Irish Lions Tour next year, though, which creates a sense of uncertainty beyond August 2025.

But for a coach who thought he’d “retired” after leaving Ireland in 2019, the opportunity to sign a short-term deal and support other Australian coaches was a “good fit.”

“It’s pretty much public knowledge that I have a young man at home who suffers quite badly with epilepsy and this job will take me away from the time I’d sort of committed to pitching in and helping him out.

“If we can get the job done over the next 18 months and we can get the momentum heading in the right direction, I’ll feel like I’ve done my part of it and I’ll be happy to hand on or if there are some Australian coaches who come through, I’ll be really keen to help get some of the Australian coaches a little bit more experienced as well.

“It’s certainly not a hit-and-run,” Schmidt added. “I think for both RA and myself, it just is a good fit at that time.

“If you were going to make a change before the World Cup, you don’t want to do it a year out. You want to make sure you’ve got a decent run at it.

“If we get to the end of the British and Irish Lions series and things are going in the right direction… (if) the best thing is for me to stay then that’s a bridge we’ll cross then.”