Kiss to keep Wallabies door open to overseas players in search of winning formula
FILE PHOTO: Rugby Union – Six Nations Championship – England Training – Pennyhill Park Hotel, Bagshot, Britain – February 20, 2019 England head coach Eddie Jones with London Irish head coach Les Kiss during training Action Images via Reuters/Peter Cziborra/File Photo
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MELBOURNE, July 23 : Australia coach Les Kiss will “look far and wide” for talent and not hesitate to select overseas-based players if they give the Wallabies the best chance of winning, signalling a pragmatic approach as he begins his tenure in the buildup to the World Cup.
Kiss named his first Wallabies squad on Thursday for next month’s two-test series against Eddie Jones’s Japan, retaining virtually all of the fit players used by predecessor Joe Schmidt during the Nations Championship.
Rugby Australia policy limits Wallabies coaches from selecting overseas-based players to encourage more to compete at home, and Schmidt used his discretionary picks sparingly through his two years in charge.
Kiss, however, suggested he would be more open to looking abroad if it gave the World Cup hosts an edge.
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“We want the right players to be here on many levels, and we want players that can make a difference and give us what we need to win games,” Kiss told reporters in Sydney at his first Wallabies press conference.
“We’ll look far and wide for those, and I won’t be afraid of looking overseas, that’s for sure, but at the same time (I will) respect the players that are here and what we’ve got here.”
‘AUSSIE SPIRIT’
He revealed he had already spoken with several off-shore players, including Japan-based outside back/centre Jordan Petaia, who is recovering from injury.
The 61-year-old former Queensland Reds boss has otherwise kept faith in the playing group that Schmidt used in the home Nations Championship tests, which included a tight loss to Ireland, a thrashing by France and a demolition of a tired Italy outfit.
Most incoming Wallabies coaches pledge to have their teams play “the Australian way” – a fast, ball-in-hand game that won World Cups in the 1990s but has largely failed due to a paucity of world-class players since Michael Cheika’s team made the 2015 final in England.
Kiss was not about to depart from the orthodoxy, saying he wanted the Wallabies to embrace an identity built around creativity and competitiveness.
“I think there is an Aussie spirit that comes through in our game,” he said of a team which has lost nine of its past 11 tests and is a lowly eighth in world rankings.
“We’re a good, innovative type of thinking player and team. Let’s play with our spirit.”
He will hope A$5 million-man Joseph Suaalii can answer that call and justify the huge price Rugby Australia paid to poach him from the National Rugby League.
Since an eye-catching start in the 2024 Northern Hemisphere tour, 22-year-old Suaalii has shown only flashes of brilliance in the gold jersey while triggering debate about whether he is best suited at fullback or in the midfield.
Kiss confirmed he would follow Schmidt’s lead and persist with Suaalii at outside centre.
“I know that he can go to 15 (fullback) and win … but our starting point with Joseph is 13.”
Source: Reuters
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