Les Kiss is seemingly one step closer to being announced as Joe Schmidt’s successor at the Wallabies after a secret meeting between Rugby Australia executives and Queensland Rugby Union officials to discuss the coach’s future.

The Roar can reveal RA chief executive Phil Waugh and director of high performance Peter Horne flew to Brisbane to speak with Reds CEO David Hanham and general manager Sam Cordingley on Tuesday morning to discuss Kiss.

It’s understood that Kiss, who is contracted to coach the Queensland Reds through to the end of the 2026 Super Rugby season, wasn’t present in the meeting.

What was discussed remains closely guarded, but it’s believed the basis of the meeting was around how the 60-year-old can take over at the Wallabies later this year while also serving out the rest of his three-year deal with the Reds.

Queensland Reds head coach Les Kiss is firming as the Wallabies’ next head coach. (Photo by Michael Bradley/Getty Images)

On Wednesday, Waugh, speaking at the announcement of Rugby Australia’s new five-year, $215 million extension with broadcaster Nine Entertainment and Stan, hinted that he was happy to consider a job sharing role to ensure the Wallabies got the best possible coach to lead the nation into the home World Cup in 2027.

“We’re looking at the whole ecosystem,” Waugh told reporters in Sydney.

“I think what we’ve done historically is talk about a Wallaby head coach, and that takes all the attention away from assistant coaches, what’s happening within the Super Rugby environment, so we’re focusing on how do you get the best possible coaches in the Super Rugby environment, because if you can’t win at a Super Rugby level, you can’t win Test matches, and we’ve seen that historically throughout since 1996 in Super Rugby.

“We’re confident we’ll get the balance right between shared services or resources, and ensuring that we’ve got the world’s best coaches leading the international program.

“What we’ll do is we’ll get the best environment to set the team up for success.”

Should Kiss take over from Schmidt following The Rugby Championship in early October and continue as Reds coach next year, it will be the first time since 2015 that the national coach has still been involved in Super Rugby.

Indeed, Michael Cheika, who took over from Ewen McKenzie in late 2014, led the Wallabies on their end-of-season tour before returning to the Waratahs ahead of the 2015 season.

Rather than compromise either program, the appointment worked out well for both parties as the Waratahs reached another semi-final before Cheika spearheaded the Wallabies’ run to the 2015 World Cup final – their best finish at the tournament since 2003.

Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh was in Brisbane on Tuesday to meet with Queensland Reds officials around Les Kiss’ future. (Photo by Brendon Thorne – World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images)

Who joins Kiss at the Wallabies remains to be seen, with sources indicating to The Roar that the Queensland coach won’t simply be able to bring his coaching team with him.

Some sources have told The Roar that Mike Cron, the respected assistant who was lured out of retirement by Schmidt to join him at the Wallabies, could continue in his role.

Lineout coach Geoff Parling is another who could continue in his duties beyond 2025.

While RA is said to be very impressed by rising Reds forwards coach Zane Hilton and would likely support his bid to become Kiss’ successor at Ballymore, it’s believed the QRU wouldn’t simply hand keys over to the assistant and would consider their options before making a decision later in 2026 as to who would take over at the Super Rugby franchise.

Where it leaves Stuart Lancaster, the former England coach and long-time Leinster senior coach, remains to be seen too.

The Roar revealed late last month that Lancaster was in the running for the Wallabies coaching job.

As recently as late last week, it’s believed he was still talking to RA about what role he could play with the national team and, indeed, Kiss.

Some have even suggested he might have been a senior coach under Kiss.

The decision is a pivotal one for both RA and the Reds.

The Reds are firmly back in the hunt to win their second fully-fledged Super Rugby title, with Kiss’ side in the top three at the mid-point of the season.

RA, too, understands the importance of a big finish to the 2025 season with their World Rugby ranking crucial ahead of next January’s World Cup draw.

“I think that the pressure’s there, we need to perform,” Waugh said.

“The World Rugby rankings in 2025 will go into the 2027 Rugby World Cup draw in January 2026, and so the importance of success this year will set up then the possibility of having a nicer run for success in the home World Cup in 2027.

“It is why I keep coming back to continuity is really important, because whoever takes the reins, needs to continue that progression and needs to continue to have an uplifting performance, and they’ll be under no illusions that they need to do that, and we’ll be putting the right support around them to set them up for success.”

Phil Waugh says his relationship with outgoing Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt remains strong and he wants the New Zealander involved with Rugby Australia moving forward. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)

Waugh also said RA remained hopeful of having Schmidt involved with the Wallabies in some capacity despite the New Zealander deciding against leading the men in gold through to the World Cup.

“We’ve got a great relationship with Joe and we’ve ended up with a good outcome taking him through to the end of TRC, given the importance of World Rugby rankings,” Waugh said.

“The continuity and the relationship that he’s created with his players is really important to continue on that journey.

“What that looks like practically in the environment post the announcement of the new head coach we’ll work through, but Joe’s very much in the conversation of ‘how do we keep Joe involved’ if that’s what the new coach would like, and also equally if that’s what Joe’s appetite is.”

Meanwhile, Waugh said it was vital to give players some clarity of who would take the Wallabies through to the World Cup, especially in the wake of incumbent flyhalf Noah Lolesio saying doubt over the identity of Schmidt’s successor played a part in his decision to move to Japan.

“I think we’re working hard to provide clarity, and given the uncertainty that the group has had over the last period of time, we lost a couple of players last year due to the environments they’ve been in, so we need to get to an outcome to provide clarity as soon as possible, so that’s the journey we’re on,” Waugh said.