July 20, 2026 — 3:30pmThe signs that it was Joe Schmidt’s last day at Rugby Australia were obvious on Monday.The outgoing head coach had swapped his regulation Wallabies polo for an open-necked light blue one. He had also pulled an all-nighter – not to review game tape, but to watch compatriot Ryan Fox, the son of All Blacks great Grant Fox, win golf’s British Open.Outgoing Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt thanks his captain, Harry Wilson, after Saturday’s victory over Italy in his final Test.Getty ImagesSchmidt’s 31st and final Wallabies Test ended with a 47-point win over Italy in Perth on Saturday. His successor, Les Kiss, will name his first squad on Thursday. The handover is all but done and while there is a good deal of pride in the Wallabies team he passes on to Kiss, Schmidt is not without regrets about his tenure.“There will always be regrets and there’s always going to be frustrations, because I think anyone involved in that level of performance is trying to aim at perfection [while] knowing that it’s unattainable,” Schmidt said.“So I think we got good, we certainly never got near perfect. But we’re in a better place, in my humble opinion, than we were when I arrived.“On the dark days, in the last two games of the year [against Italy and France in November], when the boys were only just hanging in there, we were all really tired. I spent four days in bed at the end of that tour, because I think I’d run myself down so much I got a serious dose of man flu.Angus Bell and Joe Schmidt leave the field in Perth.Getty Images“Despite being resilient, that sort of ended me for a while. But I have no regrets about my commitment. I have regrets that we didn’t quite finish a few chances. And convert those and get the result that I felt the players had earned.”Details of those 31 Tests – tries, tackles, penalties conceded – remain fresh in Schmidt’s mind. The drought-breaking Ellis Park victory over South Africa and the third Test win against the British and Irish Lions were savoured, but the Lions series loss and the close defeat to New Zealand at Eden Park still sting.Still, the coach remains proud of his achievements in rebuilding the side from the rubble of the calamitous 2023 World Cup under Eddie Jones.“I probably would [rate this job as his most challenging], just because it was the first time I came in, I knew no one,” he said. “There were two other members of staff, so we had no coaches. We had no real support staff, because it was a total clean-out after the World Cup.Schmidt is confident incoming coach Les Kiss will inherit a happier and more confident Wallabies squad.Getty“And a lot of the players, even post-World Cup, either weren’t available or there had been some guys who’d been left out and were teetering on the edge of heading overseas. So it was about convincing them that we could still get together and be competitive.“It was challenging, but I’ve learnt a heck of a lot in this window, and I’ve loved the challenge. I’ve loved the results sometimes, [but] in fact, I’ve also been depressed about the results in some of those games.”Kiss will inherit a happier and more confident team from Schmidt, but the New Zealander remains concerned about the purchasing power of clubs in France and its effect on the next generation of Australian rugby talent.“It is so difficult for Rugby Australia to capture everyone,” Schmidt said. “You’ve got 30 professional clubs in France and when they go after players, Heinz Lemoto would be a good example. I thought he was a really talented kid, obviously, in the Australian system, but they [French clubs] get them early.“They can therefore qualify them as a JIFF [French qualified] player, like Manny Meafou, and then suddenly you are competing against your own. We played France and they had three Australians — and three very good Australians, so, unfortunately, that’s going to continue.”Rugby Australia’s Moore Park headquarters is a stone’s throw from the NRL’s Rugby League Central, which often prompted Schmidt to think deeply about the battle between the codes for the best young talent in Australia.“I think rugby league is always going to be a contest, particularly around the loose forward, midfield, wing positions,” Schmidt. “I used to look from the outside and think: why don’t Rugby Australia just grab all those really good kids out of school and give them academy scholarships?“But academy scholarships, compared to what some of the competitors can offer, it’s very tough going.”Schmidt hugs Max Jorgensen after the Italy Test.Getty ImagesThe victory in Perth was followed by emotional scenes in which the Wallabies queued up to hug the departing coach with whom they had formed such a close bond. What was Schmidt’s final message to the players he will now watch from afar?“They take the mickey out of me sometimes with some of the phrases I use, but one of the ones they probably haven’t taken the mickey out of is that belief is the base and trust is the glue. I really believe that,” Schmidt said.“When we build our self-belief and we genuinely know we’re good enough, then we can trust ourselves and each other, and that trust is the glue. That is the connective tissue.“So I’ll probably try to leave them with a message that: trust yourself, trust each other and build that belief in among some skill sets and some strategy around the game.”News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.From our partners