The best rugby coaches spend countless hours perfecting lineouts, scrums and attacking shape. But according to former Bath fly-half and current Bulls coach Kennedy Tsimba, the biggest opportunity for improvement lies somewhere else entirely.

It lies in the moments where structure disappears.

During a fascinating conversation on the Amateur Rugby Podcast, Kennedy explained why he believes rugby has largely ignored the unpredictable phases of the game, despite them producing a huge proportion of scoring opportunities.

Learning rugby from VHS tapes

Kennedy’s rugby education began in Zimbabwe, where his older brother introduced him to the game. Old VHS recordings of Five Nations matches became textbooks, while endless hours recreating moves in the backyard developed the creativity that would later define his career.

Those sessions weren’t just about practising skills. They taught pattern recognition, visualisation and decision-making long before those concepts became fashionable coaching terms.

Bath and a different way of thinking

After being spotted following a trial in England, Kennedy joined Bath during one of the club’s most successful eras.

Training alongside players such as Jerry Guscott and learning from coaches including Clive Woodward gave him a new appreciation for structure and tactical discipline. But it also reinforced something unique about his own game.

He excelled when structure disappeared.

Rather than trying to change him, Bath’s coaches recognised that strength and looked for ways to create those situations more often.

The biggest part of rugby nobody coaches

Kennedy describes the game between structured restarts as “unstructured play”.

Turnovers, loose balls, kick returns, handling errors and broken-field situations all require players to adapt instantly.

These moments demand scanning, communication and rapid decision-making, yet many coaching sessions still focus primarily on rehearsed patterns.

Kennedy believes this is where the biggest gains can be made.

Developing the SHIFT framework

That belief led Kennedy to undertake years of research into transition.

His work evolved into what he calls the SHIFT framework, a model designed to help players recognise changing situations and respond more effectively when the game becomes unpredictable.

The framework draws on ideas from rugby, football, basketball and even combat sports, all of which place huge emphasis on transition and rapid adaptation.

Rather than seeing transition as chaos, Kennedy sees it as something that can be understood, trained and improved.

Looking beyond rugby

One of the most interesting aspects of Kennedy’s research is how willing he has been to learn from other sports.

Basketball, football and UFC all helped shape his thinking, while discussions with sports psychologists highlighted the importance of creating learning environments that challenge players cognitively rather than simply physically.

That philosophy has even extended into virtual reality.

Kennedy is now exploring how VR can expose players to repeated decision-making scenarios, helping develop the scanning, adaptability and pattern recognition needed at the highest level.

A lesson for every coach

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the conversation is that this isn’t just relevant to elite rugby.

In fact, Kennedy argues the opposite.

Grassroots rugby often contains even more unstructured moments than the professional game. That means amateur coaches may have even more to gain by introducing activities that challenge players to adapt, react and make decisions under pressure.

Rather than trying to eliminate chaos, Kennedy believes coaches should embrace it.

Because when the plan breaks down, the players who think fastest often win.

LINKS

Kennedy Tsimba on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennedy-tsimba-23653378/