Les Kiss (born 9 December 1964) is an Australian professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

coach who is the head coach of

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

in the Gallagher Premiership. He is a former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played in the

Brisbane Rugby League The Brisbane Rugby League is a rugby league football competition in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was first held in 1922 and for every year until 1997. The competition was reinstated in 2001, known as the FOGS premiership under the Queen ...

and

New South Wales Rugby League The New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) is the governing body of rugby league in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission. It was formed in Sydney on 8 August 1907 and was ...

and a former professional rugby league coach who was the head coach at the London Broncos in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

. In rugby union he has previously been assistant head coach of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and the Director of Rugby at

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

Playing career

Kiss was a

Past Brothers The Past Brothers Rugby League Football Club, or Brisbane Brothers Rugby League Football Club nicknamed the Leprechauns, or more commonly known as Brothers, or as The Brethren, was a rugby league club based in the city of Brisbane, Australia, t ...

junior who went on to play 100 first grade games in the

NSWRL The New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) is the governing body of rugby league in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission. It was formed in Sydney on 8 August 1907 and was ...

Premiership for the

North Sydney Bears The North Sydney Bears is an Australian rugby league football club based in North Sydney, New South Wales. The club competes in the New South Wales Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL season after 90 years in the ...

between 1986 and 1993. A handy goalkicker, he had an injury-restricted career, and retired in 1993. Les Kiss scored only 29 tries for Norths in his 100 games but despite not being the fastest , and with a best haul of 9 tries in a season (

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

), he was considered to be one of the best defensive wingers in the Sydney competition. He also kicked 38 goals from 64 attempts (59.38%) for the Bears with his best season again being his debut year (1986) when he kicked 23/38 at 60.53%.

Representative career

Les Kiss was originally from Bundaberg in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, and played his first senior football with the

Fortitude Valley Diehards The Fortitude Valley Diehards, often referred to simply as Valleys, are an Australian semi-professional rugby league football club based in the Brisbane suburb of Fortitude Valley. History Until their demise in 1995, the Fortitude Valley Di ...

club in the

competition in 1985. He first gained selection for The Maroons in Game 2 of the

1986 State of Origin series The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

at the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australian rules football and occasionally for rugby league, rugby union and as ...

. Playing on the wing, Kiss scored a try on debut in a losing side (NSW won the 1986 series 3–0) and he scored another in Game 3 at Lang Park. Benefiting from an injury to fellow Queenslander

Dale Shearer Dale Shearer (born 25 July 1965), also known by the nickname of "Rowdy", is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. A Queensland State of Origin and Australian international representative ...

, Kiss was then selected to play for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in the

second test The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...

against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

at the Cricket Ground and retained his spot for the final game in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. Kiss' good form continued for the Bears and he was an easy selection for the 1986 Kangaroo Tour. Before the actual tour got underway in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, the Australians played a test against

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New Z ...

. There Kiss scored his only two test tries in a 62–12 win. He was then selected for the first Ashes test against

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

with the Aussie's winning 38-16 before an injury in a tour match against Halifax in the game following the first test put an end to his tour. His place in the test side was taken by speed

Manly-Warringah The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

outside back Dale Shearer whose own form earned him a recall to the side (ironically it had been an injury to Shearer while playing for Manly after the first test against NZ earlier in the year which had seen Kiss called into the side). Kiss' injury restricted him to just 4 games on the

Kangaroo Tour Kangaroo Tour is the name given to Australian national rugby league team tours of Great Britain and France, tours to New Zealand and the one-off tour to Papua New Guinea (1991). The first Kangaroo Tour was in 1908. Traditionally, Kangaroo Tours to ...

with his only try coming in the Kangaroos 26–18 win against

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

in the opening game of the tour. The 1986 Kangaroos would emulate the undefeated 1982 Kangaroo tour, with the 1986 squad earning themselves the nickname "The Unbeatables". Les Kiss then had a wait of four years before he tasted representative football again. He was selected for games 1 and 2 of the 1990 Origin series. Queensland lost both games and Kiss was one of the players dropped for Game 3 (replaced by

Willie Carne William Carne (born 23 January 1969) is an Australian former rugby footballer who played rugby league for the Brisbane Broncos from 1990 to 1996, as well as representing both Queensland and Australia and rugby union for the Queensland Reds. An a ...

). In what turned out to be a brief representative career, Les Kiss played in 4 games for Queensland (all losses) and 4 games for Australia (all wins) scoring a total of 3 Origin and 2 Test tries. In 2008,

rugby league in Australia Rugby league in Australia has been one of Australia's most popular sports since it started being played there in 1908. It is the dominant winter football code in the states of New South Wales and Queensland. In 2009, it was the most watched spor ...

's centenary year, Kiss was named on the wing of the Bundaberg Rugby League's team of the century.

Coaching career

Kiss worked as an assistant rugby league coach for the London Broncos

club and then as joint head coach with former North Sydney teammate

Tony Rea Tony Rea (born 25 July 1966) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach and a former head coach for Super League club, London Broncos. A former , he played club football in the Brisbane Rugby League for Brothers, in the New Sout ...

Rugby union

Kiss worked as a defence coach for the

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

in South Africa in 2001–02, and was an assistant coach with the New South Wales Waratahs from 2002 until 2008. Kiss was appointed defensive coach with the

under head coach

Declan Kidney Declan Kidney (born 20 October 1959) is an Irish rugby union coach. He was the head coach of the Ireland national rugby union team from 2008 to 2013, where he won the 2009 Six Nations with a Grand Slam, winning the 2009 IRB Coach of the Year aw ...

in 2009, sharing in a triumphant Grand Slam victory that had eluded Ireland for 61 years in his first year in the job. After Kidney's departure on 2 April 2013, Kiss became the head coach of the Irish team as an interim appointment for their 2013 summer tour to North America. Kiss resumed his role as defence coach after the tour when Joe Schmidt took over late in 2013. On 30 June 2014, Kiss became the interim director of rugby at Ulster, following the departures of Mark Anscombe and David Humphreys. In January 2018, Kiss announced his resignation as Ulster Director of Rugby. In March 2018, he and Declan Kidney were reunited when they were appointed by

. Kiss would become head coach with Kidney appointed technical consultant. Kidney has since become Director of Rugby.

References

External links

Australian Rugby League statsBroncos capture top AussieQueensland representatives at qrl.com.auIreland Rugby Union profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiss, Les 1964 births Fortitude Valley Diehards players London Broncos coaches Australian rugby league players North Sydney Bears players Queensland Rugby League State of Origin players Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby union coaches Ulster Rugby non-playing staff Living people Rugby league wingers