Chiefs coach Jono Gibbes lifts lid on special connection with Reds counterpart Les Kiss

Saturday, 6 June 2026

Chiefs coach Jono Gibbes, left, worked under Reds coach Les Kiss at Irish club Ulster in 2017.

What: Super Rugby Pacific qualifying final, Chiefs v Reds. Where: FMG Stadium Waikato, Hamilton. When: Saturday, 7.05pm; live on Sky Sport 1.

When Chiefs coach Jono Gibbes and Reds counterpart Les Kiss meet for a pre-match handshake and a polite ‘good luck’ in the middle of FMG Stadium Waikato on Saturday night, the memories of 2017 will quickly come flooding back.

The pair will go head to head in this Super Rugby Pacific qualifying final in Hamilton, nine years after having teamed up at Irish club Ulster, when Kiss, as director of rugby, recruited a young Gibbes (12 years his junior) to be head coach.

The connection can be traced back to 2009, the pair having a bit to do with one another when Kiss, the former North Sydney Bears, Queensland and Kangaroos rugby league winger, was defence coach for Ireland, and a freshly-retired Chiefs captain Gibbes was in his first season coaching, in charge of the forwards at Leinster.

It was then eight years later, when Kiss reached out to Gibbes, then forwards coach at French club Clermont, to offer him his first head-coaching role.

“I was staying in contact and when he was looking to change a few things up at Ulster, he reached out,” Gibbes recalled of the opportunity.

Jono Gibbes says he still stays in close contact with Reds counterpart Les Kiss.

“I went over there and we got to know each other a bit better and worked alongside each other.

“Good operator.”

As it was, though, things lasted just half a season. Kiss left midway through a struggling campaign, which saw Gibbes take full running of the ship, before then also cutting short his contract, in what he acknowledged was quite the turbulent, eye-opening experience.

“We [he and Kiss] both, when we catch up, think about the Ulster season,” he said.

“There was probably about 10 years of work experience tied into six months there, if I’m honest,” he quipped. “There was all sorts of things happen.

“Off the field, awesome experience, good people I worked with, really enjoyed living in Belfast.

“Rugby, that was some education. But in the end, once you get through it, and you move on and you actually look back, you know that that was actually a really formative season for me, so I’m pretty grateful for it.”

The Chiefs celebrate a try in their 2024 quarterfinal win over the Reds in Hamilton.

With Gibbes noting the rugby world is “pretty small”, he and Kiss, who at the end of this third season with the Reds is about to take over from Joe Schmidt in the Wallabies job, have remained in touch.

“Even when I got back into New Zealand, I reached out and caught up with him and bounced a few ideas off him… and I caught up with him last time we were in Brisbane [last month],” Gibbes said. “He’s just a good, genuine guy.”

That mateship will this weekend be put on pause for 80 minutes, as Gibbes tries to get a key win over his old mentor, on the back of landing the first blow in a hard-fought 31-21 win at Suncorp Stadium four weeks ago.

“They would have taken a lot of confidence out of that game, I’m sure,” Gibbes warned. “For us, we took a lot of learning, and things that made us reflect, and gave us some insights into how to prepare for this week, too.”

For the fifth-seeded Reds, it’s must-win if they are to stay alive. But week-one playoffs have always proven their downfall, having gone 0-4 in quarterfinals or qualifying finals since the competition’s re-launch in 2022 ‒ twice in Christchurch as well as in 2023 and 2024 in Hamilton, where the Queenslanders haven’t triumphed since 2013.

For the second-ranked Chiefs, it won’t be do-or-die if the top-of-the-table Hurricanes beat the Brumbies on Friday night, with Gibbes’ side then able to progress to the semifinals as the highest-ranked loser. That was, of course, the case last year, following their shock after-the-siren upset to the Blues.

That loss did, though, ultimately cost the Chiefs home advantage for the final against the Crusaders. Now this year, a defeat at this stage comes with an added penalty of dropping not just one place but to the bottom of the seedings, and therefore also missing out on hosting a semi.

So the three-time bridesmaids under Clayton McMillan, who are on an 11-game win streak against Aussie teams in Hamilton, must make that a dozen to ensure they return to their home turf next weekend.

Chiefs: Isaac Hutchinson, Liam Coombes-Fabling, Kyle Brown, Quinn Tupaea, Kyren Taumoefolau, Damian McKenzie, Cortez Ratima, Wallace Sititi, Luke Jacobson (c), Simon Parker, Tupou Vaa’i, Josh Lord, Sione Ahio, Samisoni Taukei’aho, Ollie Norris. Reserves: Brodie McAlister, Jared Proffit, George Dyer, Seuseu Naitoa Ah Kuoi, Samipeni Finau, Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, Josh Jacomb, Lalakai Foketi.

Reds: Jock Campbell, Lachie Anderson, Josh Flook, Filipo Daugunu, Tim Ryan, Carter Gordon, Tate McDermott, Harry Wilson, Fraser McReight (c), Joe Brial, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, Josh Canham, Zane Nonggorr, Josh Nasser, Aidan Ross. Reserves: Matt Faessler, George Blake, Massimo De Lutiis, Hamish Muller, Vaiuta Latu, Kalani Thomas, Ben Volavola, Treyvon Pritchard.