Les Kiss warns Wallabies will 'come back and bite you' ahead of Springboks Test
Wallabies coach Les Kiss warned Australia faces a stern examination as they prepare to play the world No 1 Springboks in Sydney next Sunday. He described the match as “a massive opportunity to challenge a fantastic team that is second to none in the world.”
The cold facts are Australia are the No 7-ranked rugby nation in the world and South Africa are No 1 by a country mile. The Springboks flew into Sydney on Wednesday after three straight victories over the All Blacks. The All Blacks are a team Australia haven’t beaten since 2020. The Springboks are heavy favourites for a third consecutive World Cup in 13 months' time, and at Rugby Australia HQ Kiss is often seen in jeans, sneakers and a baseball cap and wears a goatee and spectacles.
Kiss has looked for inspiration from unexpected sources, telling reporters he watched a documentary about “Move 32” and arguing that unconventional thinking can produce upsets. “When you’re not constrained by conventions, anything is possible isn’t it?” he said. He invoked David Campese and “the Wallaby Way” — “Look at David Campese – unconventional, unconstrained, unpredictable. That’s ‘the Wallaby Way’. The beauty of those skills is you understand the moment, you feel the game, you sense what’s important now. It’s a sweet spot that seems mysteriously out of reach until there’s enough firepower or brain power as a group to let it happen.” When asked whether Australia had a Move 32 ready, he laughed: “Writing that wouldn’t help us, mate. It would make things much worse.”
Kiss draws on long experience, including a two-year spell in 2001-02 as South Africa’s defence coach. “My first job in rugby was with South Africa and I learned rugby through the eyes of the Springboks,” he said. He recalled Rassie Erasmus from that time: “Rassie was in his final year as a player then. I got to know him better when he was at Munster and I was in the Irish national set-up. As a player and a coach he’s a very savvy operator. Rassie thinks of the game differently and is always true to himself.”
Kiss contrasted his approach with Erasmus’s recent methods, noting the South African coach’s abrasive touchpoints against New Zealand. Against New Zealand, Erasmus “sprayed referees and rivals in the media, swapped his front-row an hour before kick-off and indulged in heavy gamesmanship, on field and off,” and it yielded results. “What he’s done with the national side is pretty special,” Kiss said. “It’s taken a lot of time to build but he’s been backed, and he gets results when he needs them. Two World Cups in a row speaks to that. He’s also built unbelievable depth. Let’s face it: he’s got four first-XVs and has quality and talent three or four deep in every position.”
Kiss acknowledged Australia’s limitations while outlining his own changes: he has an unbeaten four-Test run as coach but is constrained by injuries to key playmakers. He says his side has adopted elements of Erasmus’s playbook — “flipping sides match-by-match, endorsing enforcers, unleashing bomb squads off the bench” — to create depth and diversity. The men in gold scored a famous victory against the Springboks only last year. Two-time World Cup midfielder and one-time prodigy Jordan Petaia is the latest recalled after stints in the NFL and club rugby in France to apply pressure on golden boy Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii whose lightning remains frustratingly bottled at No 13, and Kiss resisted the temptation to recall veteran flyhalf James O’Connor, who masterminded the Wallabies’ freakish comeback victory in Johannesburg last year.
Reflecting on that Johannesburg game, Kiss said: “The big thing in that game was that the Wallabies never looked beaten, even when the scoreline was not good [22-0 after 18 minutes]. They kept coming. That belief and resilience is incredibly strong in this squad and it’s evolving every Test. We’ve got work to do but take your eye off us, we’ll come back and bite you.”
“This 80 minutes will be a representation of where we’re at – and who we are,” Kiss added, as he finalised preparations for the Test against South Africa; the match is scheduled for next Sunday in Sydney.