Why players stall

Fear of failure and social exposure

When a player doesn’t take the most obvious option, we need to know that inside the player’s head, something very different is happening.

In moments like this, players aren’t just making rugby decisions—they’re navigating social exposure. They know if they go and fail, everyone sees it. If they hesitate and get tackled, the outcome feels safer, predictable and less personally accountable.

This becomes even more obvious in players returning from injury which manifests in the reluctance to back themselves physically. It’s not a lack of bravery—it’s self-preservation.

As coaches, this is where we need to ask better questions:

• Have I prepared this player for the decision they’re facing?
• Have I created a space where failure is instructional, not terminal?
• Does the player feel supported if it
  goes wrong?

Very rarely is this a skill issue. It’s a confidence and safety issue.

Role ambiguity: when players don’t know what “good” looks like

Another major blocker to improvement is role ambiguity. Players cannot execute standards they don’t understand.

Sometimes this shows up in obvious ways—players drifting, duplicating roles, or avoiding responsibility. Other times, it’s more subtle: players doing something, but not the right thing.

A simple example is positional law knowledge.

How many wingers and fullbacks truly understand when to call “mark,” when they can’t, and how that decision affects defensive organisation and exit strategy? If they don’t know, they hesitate. And hesitation kills confidence.

Clear roles reduce anxiety. Clear standards accelerate growth.

When the session is the problem, not the athlete

One of the hardest truths in coaching is this: sometimes the session is the blocker.

We often design training for what we want players to do, not what they are currently capable of learning. When that gap is too large, players stall.

This is where progression and regression matter—not as signs of weakness, but as tools for development.

If a player isn’t improving, ask:

• Is the task too complex?
• Is the environment too chaotic?
• Is success clearly defined?

Sometimes improvement doesn’t come from pushing harder—it comes from simplifying better.

Injury, confidence, and self-preservation

You’ll often hear players say: “I could’ve done XYZ if it wasn’t for ABC.”

It’s easy to dismiss this as excuse-making. But often, it’s a rationalisation rooted in fear, identity, and past experience.

Players carry injuries, mistakes, and failures with them. Some personalities externalise. Some internalise. Some protect themselves by lowering expectation.

Your job isn’t to strip that away—it’s to understand it.

Support structures, leadership groups, and trusted communication channels matter here. When players feel backed, they risk more. When they risk more, they learn more.

Final thought

When players stall, it’s rarely because they don’t care.

More often, they’re overloaded, unsure, afraid to fail, unclear on expectations, or trapped in a training environment that isn’t serving them.

If we meet those problems with empathy, clarity, and intelligent design, improvement usually follows.

And when it does, it looks effortless—because the hard work happened somewhere else first.