Racing
League
Rugby
Football
Cricket
Golf
Sport Nation
Olympics
Motorsport
Netball
Combat Sports
Basketball
Other Sports
FWC: ESP v AUT live on SN Extra'No ambition': Schmidt rules out another national job
Darren Walton, AAP •  July 2nd, 2026 6:00 pm
Outgoing Wallabies mentor Joe Schmidt has no intention to coach another country | Photo: Bianca De Marchi/AAP
Joe Schmidt has ruled out coaching a national side again as he focuses on restoring the Wallabies' battered reputation before turning his attention to grandfatherhood.
In the closing stretch of a three-year tenure, Schmidt's Wallabies face Ireland in Sydney on Saturday and then France in Brisbane and Italy in Perth on successive weekends before Les Kiss takes over.
Schmidt calls Australia's three inaugural Nations Championship Tests "pressure points" for good reason.
After the high point of his reign, when they beat the British and Irish Lions in Sydney and then toppled two-time defending world champions South Africa at Ellis Park last August, the Wallabies lost seven of their past eight matches and endured a first winless four-Test tour of Europe since 1959.
If their losing streak continues in July, Schmidt will dip below Dave Rennie's 36 per cent winning strike and depart with the worst overall record as Wallabies coach in 55 years.
"You're a coach, you always want more from the players and you want them to want more from themselves," Schmidt said on Thursday when asked if he was pleased with where he'd taken the Wallabies.
"I do certainly feel that you can't sell out stadia and we couldn't have the support we had last year without having earned some of that."
Schmidt defiantly maintains the Wallabies have "certainly made progress since" he took over from Eddie Jones' disastrous second stint as coach in 2023, when Australia failed to make the World Cup knockout stages for a first time.
"And that's been evident in some of the results and in some of the performances, but we need to marry those two things up and start getting some performances that are consistent enough to provide results," Schmidt said.
"We know that these next three games are a pressure point for us and for me personally."
Joe Schmidt will hand over the reins to Les Kiss after the three Nations Championship Tests | Photo: Bianca De Marchi/AAP
The 60-year-old New Zealander guided Ireland to the top of the world rankings during his tenure from 2013 to 2019 before serving as an assistant coach when the All Blacks reached the 2023 World Cup final in France.
"I don't really have any ambition really to keep coaching as a head coach or anything else," he said.
"So I'm really happy. When I get back (to NZ), I think I'm going to go and help King Country in the Heartland competition for a training. Go and have a look at what they're going.
"Stay nice and close to home and help out again just with the pathway and I'm really comfortable there."
When pressed on speculation he might wind up back at Leinster, whom he coached to back-to-back European Champions Cup titles in 2011-12 and where his son Tom works in the club's finance department, Schmidt also baulked.
"Wow, they've already got my son working for them, so I I don't think they need the whole family," he said.
"I'm proud to say that I was associated with Leinster because they're an incredible outfit, so I probably quietly still support them at times and particularly in those big European games.
"I fly to Ireland on August 10, to go up and see my new grandson. So I'm certainly going up there, but not to be coaching really.
"I'm just trying to get through these last three games, to help as best I can and help the group grow a little bit further."
Millsy isn't so sure about DMac starting at 15 vs France | Sport Nation
