'Just chatting to them': Les Kiss grilled on Wallabies ambitions after crucial win

Les Kiss may have accelerated his appointment as the next Wallabies coach after piloting the Queensland Reds to a crushing 35-15 win over the NSW Waratahs

Victory saw the Reds gain bragging rights by lifting the Bob Templeton Cup for the 21st time on Saturday night, with the Tahs having won it 20 times since its 2000 introduction.

It also ended NSW's run as the only unbeaten team in Super Rugby Pacific as the Reds leapfrogged them into third spot on the ladder.

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Former Queensland and Kangaroos league winger Kiss has long been viewed as the favourite to replace Joe Schmidt at the Wallabies helm when the New Zealander steps aside after the Rugby Championship concludes in October.

Kiss and Schmidt worked successfully together with Ireland and the pair look likely to again join forces with Rugby Australia.

Schmidt is returning home for family reasons but is keen to stay on in an advisory role should his replacement want him to.

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Dan McKellar (Waratahs), Stephen Larkham (Brumbies) and Jamie Joseph (Highlanders) are other options although the latter has publicly distanced himself from the role.

Former Wallabies assistant coach McKellar has reportedly not had a formal interview.

The selection panel consists of director of high performance Peter Horne, chief executive Phil Waugh, chairman Daniel Herbert and RA board member John Eales.

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"I know they're talking to people, I don't know who they're talking to but, you know, I've just been focused on doing this," Kiss told Stan Sport after the win.

"All I'm doing is just chatting to them (RA), and I'm also chatting to the Reds. There's nothing further than that. I'm just making sure I keep my head in the space it needs to be... preparing this team, with my coaches and high performance staff."

Queensland had been belted 43-19 by the Crusaders the week before and another loss to the Waratahs would have made the optics tricky for RA if they were planning on unveiling Kiss as the new national team coach.

"We didn't catastrophise it after the loss to the Crusaders last weekend. One game wasn't going to throw us," Kiss said.

"That was critical for us because we just worked at improvements and we got them. I thought it was a cracker of a match.

"They came at us early, scored early and we had to hold fort. We weren't very tidy early, they were on top of us but we kept hanging in there. I thought it was a cracker. We like to think we can play many ways, but we have to play tough and through the middle first."

Waratahs captain Hugh Sinclair, meanwhile, had a tough night at the office filling in for the injured Jake Gordon.

"It was a tough start to captain life, it wasn't much fun," Sinclair said.

"We were good in some patches but the much better team on the night won.

"They were probably a bit distracted after last week (with Cyclone Alfred), but they were too good and on song tonight.

"They got on top of us at halftime and we couldn't come back. You can't concede 35 points and expect to win games.

"Once we got down their end, we had to hold the ball better."

McKellar was furious watching Richie Asiata's first half try in particular.

"Just some really soft moments that are not good enough," the coach said.

"That rolling maul try was embarrassing for all involved. We had penalty advantage in good positions, but we rushed things. We dominated the collisions early, but we went for all-or-nothing plays when we needed to stay calm. Those are learning moments for this group."

REDS 35 (Murray, Wilson, Asiata, McReight, Blyth tries; Lynagh 5 con) WARATAHS 15 (Reilly, Gleeson tries; Creighton pen; Edmed con)