The Kieran Shannon interview with Richard Shuttleworth: Open to what the game teaches

Renowned skill acquisition and high-performance coach Richard Shuttleworth has worked with elite coaches worldwide, from Eddie Jones to Mickey Whelan. Of Jones, he notes an ability to make a coach or player ‘bleed’, but then bandage them up. In both Jones and Whelan, he sees coaches who teach through games rather than drills.

“Rugby is the most complex game in the world. Every time you get the ball, you’ve got to make a decision. Every time the opposition has the ball, you have to make a decision. Every time you go to the breakdown, you’ve got to make a decision. So what’s so important is that the players have a decision-making process that’s natural, that they don’t have to think. Because in rugby, if you actually have to think, you miss the opportunity to do what you’re supposed to do. So we train decision-making all the time at training. We have very much game-like situations where our players have to make decisions all the time.”

— Eddie Jones