Comment: Les Kiss must recall one of two experienced playmakers ‘sooner rather than later’ if Wallabies want to shine at 2027 World Cup
Experienced Wallabies playmakers James O'Connor (inset) and Bernard Foley.
Time is quickly getting away from the Wallabies ahead of next year’s World Cup, and it’s time Les Kiss brought back a veteran playmaker to the fold.
Anything else, almost 12 months out from the World Cup on Australian soil, would be negligent.
There are currently more experienced and better playmaking options outside the Wallabies than inside it.
Rugby Australia (RA) might have thought they struck gold in luring Carter Gordon back to the game, but the unfortunate reality is the 25-year-old has been injury-plagued for the best part of two years.
After Gordon’s latest injury, Kiss will surely know that he can’t bet his house on the Reds playmaker making it through the World Cup. After all, the World Cup campaign involves seven Tests, four of which are knockout fixtures.
So who else should join Ben Donaldson in the wider squad?
Tane Edmed spent plenty of time with the Wallabies last year but, after receiving limited time for the Brumbies this year, hasn’t kicked on in 2026.
Tom Lynagh, who wore the No.10 jersey in all three British & Irish Lions Tests last year, is about to return for the Super Rugby AUS rapid-fire campaign. But the 23-year-old played less than 20 minutes in this year’s Super Rugby Pacific campaign after repeated injury setbacks.
Former Brumbies and Wallabies playmaker Noah Lolesio is back in Japan ahead of next season’s League Two season.
And Harry McLaughlin-Phillips joined the Wallabies squad in July and might be an option in the years to come, but he’s untested on the international stage and just 22.
But we all know how it went in 2023 when Eddie Jones went all in on youth.
While that decision proved madness on foreign soil, it would be even more negligent to bet on youth on home soil, where the Wallabies will finally be on the front and back pages of newspapers daily rather than once in a blue moon.
The stakes are too high.
It’s why Kiss should bring back at least one of Bernard Foley or James O’Connor sooner rather than later.
Both will be playing next year in Super Rugby, and the veteran pair are the only two current playmakers in Australian rugby who have won anything.
Already RA has been asleep at the wheel by not having the duo training with their Super Rugby sides. It’s only Australian rugby’s biggest year next season.
But given the Wallabies, under former coach Joe Schmidt, drafted in O’Connor just a week out from the Lions opener in 2025, it would be on brand if they continued backing youth until the last moment.
However, all that would do is delay the inevitable, and at the same time hurt the Wallabies’ chances of progressing deep at next year’s World Cup.
Wallabies have 12 months to find ruthless edge
The Wallabies’ inability to close their fixture out against the Pumas has been spoken about at length over the past 48 hours. But it’s not a new thing.
A week earlier, the Wallabies did their best to lose it against the Pumas in Jujuy. It came after they failed to hold possession with Donaldson wasting possession after finding himself in space at the death.
The Wallabies also looked under serious stress in Osaka a month ago as they just hung on against Jones’s Brave Blossoms.
Before that, the Wallabies nose-dived against Les Bleus in Brisbane and also gave up a big lead against Ireland in Sydney.
So what are they doing wrong?
Clearly the lack of game-managers and proven decision-makers is hurting, but it’s not helped by the fact Australia’s sides haven’t won matches of real consequence at either Super Rugby or international level.
It’s why going deep in next year’s Super Rugby season is vital – and could settle the debate at the selection table, where there is bound to be plenty of tough calls.
The Wallabies’ other great concern
The revolving door in the No.10 jersey this year has naturally garnered the bulk of the discussion. But in reality, the other great concern is the form – or lack thereof – of fullback Tom Wright.
Perhaps it’s because of the money that Wright had accrued in the bank that’s given the No.15 plenty of time, but that is starting to run dry. The 29-year-old is officially out of form.
Whether it’s a coincidence or not, the Brumbies’ season fell off a cliff when Wright, who missed the second half of last year because of an ACL injury, returned midway through the season.
Before then, Declan Meredith and acting full-back Andy Muirhead were flying. But neither finished the season well once Wright returned.
Now, Wright and the Wallabies’ attack is struggling.
In fact, it hasn’t looked threatening since Jock Campbell wore the No.15 jersey in the season opener.
Wright has always played the game on the edge, but his decision-making and accuracy has been off for the past four months – and it’s not been helped by the fact some of the flaws in the back’s game (he still can’t pass left-to-right) have never been ironed out.
Wallabies finally have a world class goal-kicker
The good news for Kiss is that he now has a world-class goal-kicker at his disposal.
Since taking the tee off Carter Gordon, Lonergan has landed 23 of 26 goals (88.46%).
It beggared belief that the Brumbies general wasn’t given the kicking duties during the Wallabies’ first Test of the year against a falling and rusty Irish side.
On that winter’s evening in Sydney, the Wallabies’ two playmakers, including Gordon, who had just returned to kicking duties with the Reds, missed four shots between them. It came after Joe Schmidt decided to give the kicking duties to his playmakers. The Wallabies lost by two points.
Lonergan’s goal-kicking has made him a compelling option to continue in the No.9 jersey. But that would short-change his work across the field.
The 28-year-old’s service is second-to-none in Australian rugby.
Just who joins him in the matchday squad remains to be seen.
After Tate McDermott was ruled out due to injury after struggling in Jujuy, his club team-mate Kalani Thomas saw little game time against the Pumas in what was just his second Test cap.
It’s time for Kiss to look at Teddy Wilson – the Waratahs’ running threat, who could usurp Jake Gordon even if he is fit next year – over one of the Reds’ two halfbacks.
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Winter is coming for Wallabies
Spring might have arrived in Australia, but winter is coming for the Wallabies – and it will test Kiss’s men more than they’ve been tested all year.
While a second-string Springboks side is likely to arrive in Perth later this month, the Wallabies will face the wrath of the All Blacks next month as Dave Rennie finally gets a chance to lay out his frustration on his former side.
Kiss has enjoyed the softest of landings as Wallabies coach.
Robbie Deans and Ewen McKenzie had to face the All Blacks first up, while Jones’s first assignment was against the Springboks in Pretoria. Kiss, meanwhile, has had home-and-away Tests against Japan, before two Tests in Argentina against a Pumas side missing a truckload of first-choice regulars.
It’s why any grand statements about the Wallabies being serious World Cup challengers are premature despite some healthy depth emerging.
