Rugby Australia has doubled down in its support of under-fire Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt.

It has expressed its “absolute confidence” in the veteran New Zealander despite overseeing the most losses in a single calendar year in the team’s history.

Schmidt’s side crashed to 10 defeats in 2025, including a winless European tour capped by a 48-33 loss to France in Paris, making it the Wallabies’ first tour of Europe without a victory since 1958.

Pressure has since intensified on the 60-year-old, who had originally been set to step aside after the Rugby Championship before agreeing to extend his tenure until mid-2026, when Les Kiss is scheduled to take over.

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Schmidt said after the France defeat that he would “be happy to stand down” if Rugby Australia had a better option, but RA chief executive Phil Waugh has now moved to shut down any speculation of an early exit.

“We’ve got absolute confidence in Joe, being one of the world’s best – if not the best – coach in the world, and the progress that he’s made with the group can’t be underestimated,” Waugh told The Australian.

“Even though we’re all disappointed with the outcome in terms of wins and losses, what we’ve seen and the growth we’ve seen from the group over the last 18 months under Joe’s leadership has been quite transformational.”

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Schmidt is expected to stay in charge for the first three Nations Championship fixtures next July – against Italy, Ireland and France – before handing the reins to Kiss, who remains contracted to the Reds until mid-2026.

Waugh said the transition plan remains intact and insisted continuity, rather than another reset, is essential ahead of the 2027 World Cup on home soil.

“The benefit of having Joe stay on for longer, and his long history with Les, is that we’re very keen not for there to be a fresh start but for there to be continued progress and that level of continuity,” he said. “It’s not just about the head coach, it’s also around the continuity of management.”

– AFP

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