The drawn-out appointment of Les Kiss as the next Wallabies coach will be finally confirmed on Wednesday, with the Queensland coach becoming the fifth man to hold the role in six years. After a lengthy negotiation, Kiss will be announced as the successor to outgoing Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt, who announced in February he will depart at the conclusion of the Rugby Championship in October. Kiss has long been regarded as the front-runner to succeed Schmidt, but after a series of interviews earlier in the year, negotiations with Rugby Australia and the Queensland Rugby Union about Kiss’ contractual release dragged on. After returning from England to take over the Reds at the end of 2023, Kiss was contracted to the QRU until the end of 2026. But a release that allows Kiss to step up to the Wallabies role has been secured with the QRU.