Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt will step down at the end of this year's Rugby Championship, with Australia announcing Thursday they would immediately begin the search for his successor. "But with the Rugby Championship following so closely after the Lions series,

Joe Schmidt has made a call on his Wallabies position as head coach, set to depart the post after the Rugby Championship. Schmidt was initially contracted until the British and Irish Lions but will stay the extra months as the side moves into the new era, ironically beginning with a Test against Eddie Jones' Japan, the man Schmidt replaced