“I think he made a mistake by leaving Angus Bell out of his starting 15.” Tony Johnson on Les Kiss.
Tony Johnson rates Les Kiss. He still thinks the Wallabies coach got his loosehead wrong in Sydney.
“Les, as you know… terrific bloke and lot of admiration for him but I think he made a mistake by leaving Angus Bell out of his starting 15,” Johnson said.
Johnson, Sky Sport NZ’s lead rugby commentator, was talking to Martin Devlin on DSPN’s Monday review on 19 October. Two days earlier Angus Bell watched from the bench as New Zealand went 36-7 up by half-time. He came on for Aidan Ross at half-time.
Should Kiss have started Angus Bell in Sydney? Yes or no in the comments.
Les Kiss was trying to fix the Eden Park bench
Johnson could see the thinking.
“I could see what he was trying to do because their effort waned at Eden Park and they didn’t get as much out of the bench as the All Blacks did, nowhere near it, and so I think he thought if he could hold back one of his really big guns to come off the bench, it might counteract that.”
The numbers back the first half of that. At Eden Park the Wallabies trailed only 17-14 at half-time, then lost the second half 33-5.
So Kiss held Bell back for the second 40 in Sydney.
Angus Bell changed the second half
Johnson gave Bell full credit.
“And certainly he made a difference when he came on. He was the one who really started throwing or running really hard at the All Black defensive lines, using his footwork, making inroads.”
Australia won the second half 14-7. Late on, Declan Meredith’s dummy sent Bell through a gap.
Johnson came back to it later in the show, and he was careful with it.
“There were other factors as well… the various disruptions… and the fact that the Australians played well, or played better I should say, after Angus Bell just sort of gave [them] a bit of go forward.”
The other factors were real. The All Blacks ran out of replacements and finished with 13 men.
The Test was gone by the 26th minute
Johnson’s case rests on the start, and the start was brutal.
New Zealand were 22-0 up after 26 minutes. Josh Moorby, Beauden Barrett, Peter Lakai and Rieko Ioane had all scored. Bell was still on the bench.
“But I still think you want to win the game, you got to start well and you got to have your best 15 players on the field.”
That is the flaw in Kiss’s plan. He kept one of his “really big guns” for a half that could no longer decide the Test.
A dozen games of doubt
Johnson thinks the slow starts have a cause that goes deeper than selection.
“I just wondered whether there’s a bit of a… mental block there now. You know, you go a dozen games without winning against an opponent and as soon as things start going wrong, all those doubts start to come in again and whatever confidence that you had because of the win that you’d had in Perth starts to evaporate.”
The Wallabies beat the Springboks 42-38 in Perth on 27 September. Three weeks later that win looked a long way off.
A side carrying that much doubt needs a fast start more than most. Starting Bell is how a coach tries to get one.
Kiss was missing Tupou and Hooper as well
Johnson also pointed to who was missing.
“They have this policy now of selecting from overseas. The downside of it is… that you get Tupou and Hooper who’s a very good player this Tom Hooper. You get them for those tests but you don’t get them for those tests.”
Taniela Tupou plays for Racing 92 and Tom Hooper for Exeter. Neither was available for the Bledisloe Tests, which fell outside the window when clubs must release players.
Without Tupou, a tighthead, the Wallabies front row is thinner. That makes it harder still to justify keeping Bell on the bench.
England at Twickenham is Kiss’s next call
The Wallabies play England at the Allianz Stadium on Sunday 8 November.
Bell’s 40 minutes in Sydney are the case for starting him there. Twickenham will not wait for a second-half comeback either.
DSPN has the whole conversation.
Your turn: starter or finisher?
Johnson says start your best 15. Kiss used Angus Bell to fix the second half.
Start Bell against England, or keep him on the bench? One word below.
Frequently asked
Did Angus Bell start for the Wallabies against the All Blacks in Sydney?
No. Aidan Ross started at loosehead and Bell replaced him at half-time, with Australia 36-7 down.
What was the score in the Bledisloe Cup Test in Sydney?
New Zealand won 43-21 at Accor Stadium on Saturday 17 October 2026, after leading 36-7 at half-time. Australia won the second half 14-7.
When do the Wallabies play next?
The Wallabies play England at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, on Sunday 8 November 2026.
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