Australian rugby’s worst-kept secret is almost over: Les Kiss is set to be unveiled as the Wallabies’ next head coach.

Almost a fortnight after The Roar revealed Kiss had emerged as Rugby Australia’s preferred candidate, the governing body will confirm on Wednesday morning that Kiss, 60, will succeed Joe Schmidt in October. His first Test will be against Eddie Jones’ Japan in Tokyo on October 25.

Kiss will be the Wallabies’ fifth head coach in six years following Michael Cheika, Dave Rennie, Eddie Jones and Schmidt, who told Rugby Australia he would only lead the men in gold through to this year’s Rugby Championship.

The Reds head coach, who took over from Brad Thorn ahead of the 2024 Super Rugby season, is expected to be in Sydney for the Wednesday announcement.

It’s believed he will then join his Queensland squad in Suva on Wednesday night ahead of their crunch clash against the Drua on Saturday afternoon. The Reds are currently fourth on the Super Rugby standings after beating the Blues 35-21 last Saturday.

Reds Coach Les Kiss is set to finish up with the Queensland Reds later this season, before taking over from Joe Schmidt at the Wallabies. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

The announcement comes almost three months after Rugby Australia confirmed Schmidt would finish up before the end of the year.

RA boss Phil Waugh had hoped they would be able to announce his successor earlier, saying a decision would be in “weeks, not months”, in reality that was never going to occur.

The governing body has repeatedly claimed they received more interest than they anticipated.

It’s believed the panel that ultimately settled on Kiss was Waugh, chairman Daniel Herbert, high performance director Peter Horne and two-time World Cup winner John Eales.

Indeed, Kiss, who didn’t have an international clause in his contract, had to break his three-year deal to join the Wallabies.

But after weeks of negotiations, including a meeting between RA executives and Reds officials in Brisbane less than a fortnight ago around what compensation would be on offer, it’s understood a solution has been settled that includes Kiss finishing up at season’s end.

Just who joins Kiss at the Wallabies remains to be seen, but it’s believed RA has always wanted to call the shots on his assistants.

Stuart Lancaster, the former England boss and Leinster senior coach, is still thought to be in the mix to join Kiss in some capacity.

Extraordinarily, Kiss will take over from Schmidt some 12 years after being his assistant with the Ireland national team. The former North Sydney Bears, Queensland and Australian winger joined Ireland in 2009 and helped them end their Six Nations Grand Slam drought, coaching at two World Cups, including one under Schmidt.

Les Kiss (L) worked alongside Joe Schmidt for years in Ireland. Picture credit: Seb Daly / SPORTSFILE (Photo by Sportsfile/Corbis/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Who takes over at the Reds is far from certain, with the Queensland Rugby Union to once again run their own process to find Kiss’ successor.

Reds forwards coach Zane Hilton is a strong contender to take over, while it’s likely Queensland officials will speak with Cheika, who perplexingly wasn’t strongly considered by RA despite the fact he’s about to become a free agent.

But the role is expected to garner considerable interest at home and abroad, with former Reds greats Chris Latham and Toutai Kefu likely to also throw their hats in the ring.

Latham, who currently coaches Chicago, recently told The Roar it was his dream to coach the Reds.

Kiss, who told The Roar Rugby podcast last year that he never expected to go into coaching, got his break with the Springboks when a six-week contract turned into ten weeks and extended to two years.

He was then brought back to Australia by World Cup-winning coach Bob Dwyer, where he was an assistant with the Waratahs for years.

The former outside back then moved to Ireland, where he would spend 15 years across Ireland, Northern Ireland and England.

While Kiss toyed with returning to Australian rugby around the onset of Covid, the collapse of London Irish saw the QRU pounce on the former Maroons star.

Inside two years he’s set to become the next Wallabies coach.