One year to fix Australia: Joe Schmidt and Phil Waugh on the battle to revive the Wallabies

Sitting in a coffee shop with a view of a resplendent Coogee beach in the distance, Joe Schmidt’s thoughts drift from the coastal suburb of Sydney to his home in Taupo, the stunning lakeside town in New Zealand’s north island.

Schmidt had moved there with his family after stepping down as Ireland head coach following the 2019 World Cup. Even if that tournament had not gone to plan, culminating in a heavy defeat by New Zealand in the quarter-finals, he could look back on a remarkable list of achievements: three Six Nations titles including one Grand Slam on the back of three trophy-laden seasons with Leinster.

At the time he had no thoughts of returning to coaching. His son Luke had suffered from severe epilepsy since the age of four and Schmidt wanted to spend more time helping him transition into tertiary education.

“If you think Coogee is nice, you should see Taupo,” he says. “It is such a beautiful place. I was very much looking forward to spending time there fishing and golfing, and having time with the family was my number one target.”

‘I was massively keen to step away from the game’

Yet here now the 58-year-old New Zealander sits in a cafe across the Tasman with a view to die for, talking all things rugby a week before he takes charge of his first Test as the new head coach of Australia. His focus returns. One of the first questions is why? From afar, it looks like a thankless task, one that could put his legacy at risk.

It has been a circuitous route, he says, an unexpected one. After returning to New Zealand, he worked remotely as director of rugby and high performance with World Rugby but left after a year when the post-pandemic world opened up again.

Then, after working as an assistant with the Auckland Blues for six months, he was asked to join the All Blacks as a selector. When Ireland arrived in June 2022, to face the All Blacks at Eden Park in the first of three Tests, he received a call from Ian Foster, the head coach, asking him to take charge as the coaching team had all tested positive for Covid.

New Zealand won 42-19 but then Schmidt tested positive. Foster took charge again for the second and third Tests but Ireland won the series 2-1, and soon after Schmidt was brought into the coaching set-up on a permanent basis to the 2023 World Cup.

When they got to France, he was widely praised for masterminding New Zealand’s quarter-final victory over Ireland in Paris but 12-11 defeat in the final against South Africa, when Sam Cane was sent off in the first half and television match official Tom Foley incorrectly intervened to chalk off a try by Aaron Smith, left him with little appetite to stay on coaching on the international stage.

“I was massively keen to step away from the game; a little bit embittered about how the [World Cup] final was played out with what we know are rules and the guys in charge of looking after those…we felt disappointed,” he adds. “We massively admired the players to stay in the game a man down against such a big team. I thought they did such a good job.”

So Schmidt again retreated to Taupo until the call came from Peter Horne, his former colleague at World Rugby, who had recently been appointed as Australia’s new high performance director.

Australian rugby had been plunged into its biggest crisis of the professional era; humiliated by their pool-stage exit in France and the mess left by Eddie Jones, who had already moved on to Japan less than a year into a five-year tenure, rocked by the controversial departure of chairman Hamish McLennan and faced with a financial black hole. Having walked away from a private equity deal and lost a major sponsor, the organisation was forced to agree an A$80 million loan (£42 million) with Pacific Equity Partners last November to ease their financial strains.

If it was a punt on future revenue growth, it was done so without any guarantee of success on the pitch. No Australian side has won the Super Rugby title for 10 years, while New Zealand has held the Bledisloe Cup since 2003. The lack of international success has seen rugby union’s profile in a highly competitive sports market dominated by rugby league and Australian Rules Football languish alarmingly from the halcyon days of the early 2000s.

Horne’s top priority was to persuade Schmidt to come to Australia’s rescue, in doing so becoming only the third New Zealander to do the job after Robbie Deans and Dave Rennie, who had been sacked to make way for Jones.

“I was very hesitant, but Pete said, ‘Come on mate, come across and work away’. I think the challenge of it is probably [the motivation],” Schmidt adds.

“And the other part of it is that I’m a rugby fan, in fact, I’m a sports fan really, but I just feel like rugby is out of balance a little bit if the Wallabies aren’t at the top table.

“Even the All Black boys, the messages I got – there was obviously a fair bit of taking the mickey – but they were also saying that we actually need our corner to be stronger now. I don’t have a magic formula to make that happen. But know how hard I work, and I can try to help you.”

Lions tour is a financial lifeline for the Wallabies

Schmidt’s deal is initially for two years but his mission is arguably the most critical of his career. This time next year the British and Irish Lions will arrive in Australia for a tour that has never before had such importance for both sides. The Lions board are desperate for a captivating tour to rebuild the brand after the damage done by the tour of South Africa in 2021 that was played behind closed doors because of the pandemic. That requires Australia to be credible opponents.

For Rugby Australia (RA), the tour represents a lifeline, described by Phil Waugh, their chief executive, as “the light on the hill”. Waugh predicts the commercial success of the tour will enable the A$80 million loan to be cleared, allowing RA to then establish more sustainable financial footing from the revenues of hosting the 2027 World Cup and a new broadcasting deal from 2026, when the new Nations Championship is due to commence.

Yet the potential impact of the Lions tour exceeds the finances. Waugh believes it will also be key in helping to start rebuild the Wallabies reputation in Australia. While participation in the grassroots game has increased recently to 140,000, there has never been a greater disconnect with the Australian public and the professional sides, underscored by the loss of Melbourne Rebels who went into financial administration.

Everything, it seems, is on the table, including the prospect of establishing a State of the Union match between Queensland and New South Wales players to rival the commercial success of rugby league’s State of Origin series.

“Whilst I want us to co-exist with the other codes, I want to win the battle for talent at 16, 17, 18,” added Waugh. “If you can land a player in the first year after school, you have a good chance of retaining that player. What’s occurring at the moment is that we’re not winning that fight for talent at that age.

“I’m a big believer, if you create the right environment, the right culture and the right performance, then you retain people. But what we won’t be doing is living beyond our means with how much we can pay players.”

The Lions tour is seen as critical not just to bring back supporters – 20 years ago, the Waratahs would draw average crowds of more than 35,000, a figure that has fallen to 13,000 – but also help retain players who may be tempted to leave the code to play in the NRL, such as Mark Nawaqanitawase and Carter Gordon. The Sydney Swans, the AFL side close to Rugby Australia’s offices, regularly sell out the 52,000-capacity Sydney Cricket Ground.

“If Australia does well, everyone gets on board, not just rugby supporters,” said Waugh. “Which is why the Lions series is so important to us. When you get 40,000 tourists coming out supporting it, you capture the city that the game’s in. If we do well, all Australians will be interested.

“In 2027, we’ve got to go deep into the World Cup. So, a lot of the work we’re doing now and the appointment of Joe Schmidt for setting up the structure is actually around setting ourselves up for the importance of the Lions series.

“Joe has got a short runway but he has got time, too. It’s not ideal, he would probably want a bit more time but equally he came into the All Blacks in 2022 before the World Cup and had an impact. I think there is a good comparison around the timeline. Some of the players might not have a big enough profile for the northern hemisphere but Joe does.”

Back in the coffee shop in Coogee, Schmidt admits the prospect of the challenge that he faces has left him feeling “incredibly nervous.” But he says he intends to draw on his experience with Ireland in a short-term strategic plan not dissimilar to the one that was faced by Steve Borthwick with England at the start of last year when he was parachuted in at the 11th hour to build a squad for the World Cup.

“I have had four days with the players, some I never met before, or really spent any time chatting to,” Schmidt adds, fresh from a training camp on the Gold Coast. “And we play Wales next Saturday. We are right here, right now. I’m feeling very, very short of time. And you only get those Test weeks together. It’s not like at a club, where you can build an ebb and flow during the season.

“But that nervousness and anxiety drives you to work hard. The Irish experience gave me confidence. I felt Ireland had a number of obstacles – and I know they still have the quarter final of the World Cup, which is such a fickle competition – but we achieved a few firsts that you believe if you get the right men together, the right leadership.”

‘I am not expecting a gentle breeze, it will be tempestuous’

The leadership team that he has put together also draws heavily on experience, and has already been hailed as the Wallabies’ equivalent of Dad’s Army. “I really like the coaching team we have pulled together,” adds Schmidt. “Yes, it is Dad’s Army. Eoin Toolan, our skills coach and head of analysis, said to me, ‘It’s great to be a part of Dad’s Army here’. [Mike] Cron is late 60s, mid-60s for Laurie [Fisher] and I am a spring chicken at 58. Geoff Parling (40) is younger. I said to him, ‘You must be Private Pike’. But it kind of went over his head. He knew the phrase, but he hadn’t actually watched the show.”

Schmidt was central to establishing Ireland’s elevated status on the world stage, and believes a successful Wallabies can have a similar impact in breathing life into rugby union across Australia.

“One of the ways it happened in Ireland was you get the flagship up and sailing,” he adds. “Kids want to aspire to be part of a similar ship. I have been into schools and clubs. But that is not as powerful as the Lions coming. Rugby is genuinely a global game and that is something our code competitors can’t compete with. The Lions are such a big event. The Rugby World Cup is such a big event. If we can be competitive in those events, that is so tangible for the hearts and minds you are trying to capture.

“It will be some sort of tempest. I am not expecting a gentle breeze. It will be tempestuous. In the first 15-20 minutes of the quarter final against Ireland I felt we [New Zealand] got into the game really well. That first half England played against Ireland; I know they weren’t even in front but the number of line breaks they made… That was the best England I have seen for a while.”

Like Borthwick last year, Schmidt has brought back some experienced heads to begin the rebuilding process. He has 13 Tests, starting against Wales next Saturday, before the Lions face Western Force in Perth on June 28 next year.

“I think people will be realistic. Even going for a walk here – not many Australians spoke to me but a number of Irish did – but those who did, those who came up to me at baggage reclaim, said, ‘Good luck’. That little ripple is of great interest. We want to maximise that interest just by demonstrating that we are building that competitiveness.”

And with that he is away. Stopping to thank the Irish waitress and heading into the dazzling winter sun, no doubt hoping that the next 12 months will prove he has made the right decision to leave Taupo’s allures behind for now.