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Abstract

The junior-to-senior transition presents persistent difficulty for elite sport, often exacerbated by poor integration between talent development and high-performance environments. This case study evaluated Munster Rugby's integrated model, which merged the academy and senior squad into a single training group. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 participants (academy players/coaches, senior players/coaches) and data were analysed using a deductive–inductive thematic content approach grounded in talent development environment frameworks. Five themes were generated to represent how the integrated model influenced the coaching situation: not one track, is this right, right now?, looking ahead, pulling in the same direction, and rubbing shoulders. Our analysis suggested that full-time senior-level training accelerated learning and facilitated earlier selection opportunities. However, these outcomes depended on continuous individual support for younger players and having senior players as role models. Outcomes also varied; while some players adapted, others struggled with the demands associated with preparing a team to win, compromising active experimentation and expansive skill learning. The findings suggest that in Munster's integrated system, the dominant logic of winning had the potential to cannibalize the subordinate logic of development unless systemically accompanied by structured, individualised support and deliberate opportunities for error-based learning. They also underline the need for organisations to manage the inherent tension between short-term results and long-term player development.

Keywords

Academy players Junior-to-senior transition organisational culture role model support network

Introduction

Normative talent development frameworks have historically been criticised as presenting staged linear processes.^1,2 Despite this, they are often used as scaffolds by talent systems to guide the structures and experiences offered to athletes. Although the ages associated with initial selection and progression vary across sports, athletes in team sports are often selected into talent systems represented by an academy linked to a senior club-based organisation,³ affording the opportunity to transition through age-groups to senior elite status. As they progress, athletes cross a threshold where the environmental agenda shifts from more developmental (i.e., age-group) to winning (i.e., senior elite status).

In contrast to rigidly demarcated stage-based frameworks, the notion of a Talent Development Environment (TDE) is defined by Martindale et al.,⁴ as all “aspects of the coaching situation” (p. 354) influencing development. Using this definition, Martindale et al.,^4,5 characterised effective practice through: long-term aims and methods, wide ranging coherent messages and support, and individual and ongoing development. Henriksen et al.,⁶ built on this by proposing the Holistic Ecological Approach, emphasising the interaction between micro and macro Environment Success Factors (ESF), including long-term individual development and a strong, coherent organisational culture. Both approaches recognise that talent development can occur in multiple settings concurrently.

Based on the complex arrangement of talent development (TD) and the various contexts a young athlete may inhabit,⁷ it is appropriate to examine the wider talent system and the athlete's experience of multiple TDEs.⁸ For example, a male rugby union player might concurrently inhabit school, academy, international representative and senior team environments.⁹ Given this complexity, incoherence between environments is a significant risk.¹⁰ To promote greater coherence of athlete experience, talent systems can pursue alignment or integration as distinct strategic approaches.¹¹ Alignment is evident when hierarchical environments work toward top-down objectives. In contrast, integration is a bi-directional process in which diverse inputs are systematically combined through vertical and horizontal interactions among stakeholders, systems, and processes.³ The desired outcome being coherence for the athlete, where their experiences are logically connected and mutually reinforced.¹²

Previous research has highlighted the differing priorities between development and performance contexts.¹³ Moreover, distinct phases in an athlete's career can be characterised by shifts in developmental focus.¹⁴ As such, the role of the TD coach is recognised as distinct from the coach of high-performance (HP) athletes.¹⁵ Building on these distinctions, recent literature has proposed a definition of the High-Performance Sport Environment (HPSE) as a context with an “emphasis on optimising athlete performance and addressing fundamental needs related to peak performance”.¹⁶ [p. 2]. In practice this difference has been characterised as the difference between defining the future characteristics of athletes and refining previously developed characteristics.¹⁷ Yet, the norms of the HPSE with a focus on optimising towards peak performance, may result in effective talent development due to short-termism and pressure to deliver results.¹⁸ Consequently, there is a tension between winning now and developing for the future.

This tension is particularly evident in professional male team sport, where studies have highlighted the difficulties of the junior to senior transition (JST; e.g.,¹⁹ a period where players are exposed to a range of novel pressures.²⁰ One demand is a lack of safety driven by the selection judgements inherent to HPSEs.²¹ The player also needs to navigate distinct factors such as psycho-social (e.g., new environment) and academic demands.²² Successful transitions are more likely when athletes’ resources match these demands, with the capacity to prepare for and learn from challenge considered essential.^23,24 To support this, support mechanisms are necessary.²⁵ However, where academy and senior departments are physically or organisationally separate, this appears to hinder athlete development.²⁶ Across a series of individual environment case studies Henriksen and colleagues²⁷ suggested the need for a permeable layer between a TDE and HPSE, characterised by the availability of proximal role models and integration of efforts. These features were contrasted with ineffective TDEs, identified by their limited success in progressing athletes to senior performance and characterised by poor communication, limited integration, and an incoherent culture.¹⁰ Despite these inherent trade-offs, there is limited research on how talent systems might practically navigate the conflict between long-term development and short-term performance in HPSEs.²⁸ As Baker et al.,¹⁴ suggest, we currently know little about how the pressures of professional sport constrain long-term development.

The Munster Rugby context

Founded in 1879, Munster Rugby is one of four professional provincial clubs in Ireland, competing in the United Rugby Championship, winning the competition in 2023 and having a strong European Cup record, reaching the semi-finals or beyond 14 times. Munster's talent system centres on a three-year provincial academy for players aged 18–21 designed to allow for multiple entry and exit points, enabling the inclusion of players who follow atypical development pathways. Players are selected into the academy either directly from school or will have spent a foundation year in the National Talent Squad (NTS), prior to academy entry. In contrast to the normative separation of TDE and HPSE in many team sports, Munster implemented an integrated training model in 2022 to enhance player development. This organisational intervention merged the academy (approximately 18 players) with the senior squad (circa 42 players) into a single training group. Academy players trained full-time alongside the senior team, following the same training schedule, including team and unit meetings. Depending on selection, players would play with the Munster senior team, A team, or with their respective clubs each weekend. Prior to the intervention in 2022, the academy and senior team were organisationally separate, located in different floors of Munster's training centre, and operating from an entirely different training schedule. Nine senior and academy coaches deliver the programme with senior coaches leading on the delivery of team sessions (supported by academy coaches) and team meetings. Academy coaches focus solely on academy players to support their development. The intent of the integrated model was to accelerate progression through the JST²⁵ and create a more competitive playing roster. Recognising the inherent trade-offs of any approach, the aim of this case study was to explore the impact of this intervention on the Munster Rugby TDE/HPSE, in particular how coaching practices impacted player development.

Method

This study focused on a single, bounded case: the Munster Rugby professional performance pathway as it operated between 2022 and 2024.²⁹ The case boundaries encompassed the academy and senior squads, their associated coaching staff, and the shared training and competition environments in which development and performance processes were embedded. The case was bounded in both time and scope to capture the period of July 2022 to June 2024, capturing the organisational change of the new performance model. This case is best described as an instrumental case study.³⁰ We sought to explore a broader issue; the overlap of TD and HPSEs, through a specific case. While the Munster Rugby environment is unique, the case is examined to critically consider dilemmas relevant to other sport organisations.

Philosophical position

Reflecting a commitment to generating practically meaningful knowledge, this case study was underpinned by a pragmatic research philosophy.³¹ Pragmatism centres the research question and uses it to guide methodological choices.³² Rather than seeking certainty, pragmatists view knowledge as fallible and provisional—valued for its capacity to inform action. Knowledge is thus understood as an ongoing process of inquiry, grounded in evidence and experience.³³

Reflexivity

Aligned to our epistemological stance and the use of thematic analysis,³⁴ analysis was conducted in reflexive recognition of our positioning and the role of researcher subjectivity in shaping deductive engagement with the data. It is therefore necessary to acknowledge my (I.C.) role as an insider, conducting research with my own organisation and from a population of which I am a member, while also occupying a leadership role.³⁵ At the time of the research, I had been employed as Munster Rugby Head of Rugby Operations for 18 months, following two years as academy manager. This positionality brought a pragmatic intent to the research but also introduced dilemmas, particularly around power dynamics and the potential for impression management. Among the benefits of an insider perspective is acceptance from participants based on understanding of context and a level of trust contributing to greater openness and depth.³⁵ However it also risked me being blinded to contextual norms, or adopting an overly positive view.³⁶ It is possible that I was unable to separate my own experiences from those of the participants and that participants may have assumed mutual understanding, not fully explaining their perspective.³⁵ It is for this reason that the role of the second and third authors as critical friends was critical to help sensitise me to my interactions and pay particular attention to the power imbalances at play.³⁷ As relative insider–outsiders. J.T. is an experienced rugby union coach and coach developer, while A.M. has extensive experience working with rugby academies. As they were not embedded within Munster Rugby, we used monthly meetings to reflect on my position as a researcher, alongside my use of a reflexive journal. The journal was used to help me reflect on my positionality at all stages of the study, interrogate power dynamics, surface assumptions, and track analytic decisions, enhancing transparency and supporting dialogue within research team meetings. As an example, I was particularly conscious of my position relative to academy players. For this reason, after using the journal to reflect on this issue, I used the research team to consider options to begin these interviews and where they should take place. These measures did aim to avoid power dynamics, rather to recognise how the ubiquity of power might influence the research. In addition, our various positions enabled deep contextual understanding, facilitated access to participants, and allowed for the identification of subtle, embedded practices that might have been overlooked by an external observer.³⁶

Participants

Rather than an a priori sample size decision, information power was used to estimate how many participants would be required to provide a rich, relevant and multifaceted account relative to the study's objectives.³⁸ This estimation led to an initial purposive sampling of 16 participants with n = 4 in each of four stakeholder groups: academy players, academy coaches, senior players and senior coaches. This triangulation is important in case study research to clarify the meaning taken from differing perspectives.³⁹ Richness was used as a criterion to inform recruitment, based on participants’ ability to reflect on their experiences not only within Munster Rugby but also compare with other rugby TDEs and HPSEs. For this reason, all senior players, academy and senior coaches had experience of other rugby TDEs and HPSEs. The average number of years’ experience in professional rugby union for each group was as follows: academy players (M = 2 years), senior players (M = 6 years), academy coaches (M = 5 years) and senior coaches (M = 9 Years). We were satisfied that following 16 interviews, there was sufficient richness to proceed with the case study. To ensure anonymity of participants, specific demographic information is not presented.

Data collection

Following approval by the authors’ institutional ethics committee (REC 2024/029) participants were invited to semi-structured interviews. I (I.C.) conducted all interviews, given my position outlined in the reflexivity section, I undertook an extensive process of informed consent and contracting ahead of each interview. In particular, I took care to help participants feel comfortable, respected, and free to express their views. The interview guide (available on request from I.C.) consisted of questions asking participants to describe their experiences and their perceived impact of the integrated training model. Interview questions were developed from established TDE literature to identify elements of the integrated model that might influence talent development practices. The guide was iteratively refined through discussion within the research team, ensuring relevance with the study aims; for example, an initially broad question such as ‘What has your experience of the integrated model been?’ was reshaped into more targeted prompts to elicit specific developmental experiences (e.g., ‘What do you think are the opportunities for an academy player integrated with the senior programme?’, ‘When you first joined the academy, how well prepared did you feel for the transition into full-time senior training?’, ‘What do you feel are the biggest challenges or threats for an academy player within an integrated model?’). Each interview lasted between 38 and 55 min and was transcribed verbatim.

Data analysis

Based on our reflexive stance, a qualitative content analysis approach was adopted in order to build a model to describe a phenomenon in a conceptual form.⁴⁰ In this case, a performance intervention to integrate the TDE and the HPSE at Munster Rugby. Based on a judgement that the TDE literature met the criteria of sufficient prior knowledge, the existing TDE research of Martindale et al.,⁴ and Henriksen et al.,^6,27 was used to generate a deductive coding frame⁴¹ including five principles: (1) individualised and ongoing development, (2) appropriate development, (3) long-term aims and methods, (4) integration of efforts and (5) wide ranging support. Once coding was complete, the analysis progressed from deductively derived categories to the development of broader themes. Elements that aligned with the initial deductive framework were then used to generate new concepts through inductive content analysis.⁴²

Theme development involved four steps.⁴³ The initialisation phase of analysis involved transcriptions being read and reread by I.C. who made a series of notes while also becoming familiar with the data. At the next step codes were generated through line-by-line analysis. In the construction phase, reflection on the process of organising code was undertaken, and each cluster of codes assigned a place in relation to the research question. This phase included classifying, comparing, labelling, defining and describing. The third phase, rectification, involved relating themes to established knowledge. During rectification care was taken to both remain immersed in the data and to maintain sufficient distance to examine the veracity of the coding process. This was supported by J.T. and A.M. who acted as critical friends, challenging interpretations by offering alternative perspectives. The finalisation phase involved a narration development to describe and connect various themes related to the research question.

Findings

This case study sought to explore the perspectives of multiple stakeholders on the impact of an organisational intervention on the Munster Rugby TDE/HPSE. The results are aligned to different elements of the generated deductive framework: (1) individualised and ongoing development, (2) appropriate development, (3) long-term aims and methods, (4) integration of efforts and (5) wide ranging support. The themes and sub-themes are presented in Table 1 and include quotations from multiple perspectives. Sub-themes are presented below using italics.

Table 1.

Impact of the integrated model.

Theme	Sub-theme	Raw Data Exemplar
Not one track	Accelerated development	Academy Coach	“It's just that early exposure, isn't it, their early exposure to training with professional players, but it's also the early exposure to being coached by all coaches. They get to understand what it takes, or they get to feel, I suppose, would be the word feel, what a pro session looks like, how fast it is, and the level that they need to get to”
	Accelerated development	Academy Player	“You probably don’t get that competitiveness if you're separated, because you just don't have the numbers in the academy (15v15) or the NTS and you’re training against players a level below you. Whereas if you want to go to the level of lads above you, you don’t want to be competing with NTS players to get like into a red jersey, you want to compete with players above you”
	Increased playing and contract opportunities	Academy Player	“With the coaching staff we have the last few years, they seem like they're a coaching group that picked people training the best. And you have seen that last two years that it's not about your rank if you train and play well you're going to start games”
	Groundwork to support JST	Academy Coach	“They're coming straight out of school, they're, they're the big fish in their pond. And then they come in, and they are literally the bottom of the food chain in here. And I think some players can struggle with that, like, not from an ego point of view, but just it's a big transition”
	Groundwork to support JST	Academy Player	“Collective sessions, higher standard and higher intensity, I found them sessions were beneficial to prepare for international camps and more of them would have helped transitioning into academy”
Is this right, right now?	Increased Demands	Academy Coach	“Threat of a demanding senior programme when it comes to maintaining college education and how much more challenging that's becoming to maintain rugby and college. That's not just the physical but the psychological and the emotional drain as well”
	Perceived Safety	Senior Coach	“You've got senior coaches, with experience with reputations, eyes on them on a daily basis and I suppose what they learn pretty quickly the required level of detail, that they're scrutinized, that they're being observed and assessed, and once they walk through that door that the clock is ticking”
	Perceived Safety	Academy Player	“The only thing, from a rugby perspective, is in my first year in the academy, I was kind of second guessing my ability, I was definitely like: ‘I'm way off the standard here’”
Looking ahead	Tension between senior performance and player development	Academy Coach	“Their frame of mind every week is around getting a result on a Saturday and then being focused on that. Sometimes in season can become very pronounced and the emphasis around development goes back a bit. That's not a criticism”
	Tension between senior performance and player development	Senior Player	“It's really a balancing act, isn't it? We need guys to be ready, we need the standard of training to be as high as possible, so their knowledge needs to be good when they come in and train. But there may be protected pockets of the season where we want to get a little more selfish and increase quality”
	Systematic long-term planning	Senior Player	“The system that's in place now is very positive for the club, the opportunity to train and be a part the senior squad compared to what some lads were exposed to when I was in the academy, it's just chalk and cheese”
Pulling in the same direction	Integration between academy & senior	Academy Coach	“A lot of openness between everyone and that's a two way flow. It's not just senior down, there's a lot of shared ideas, and over the open office plan that we have up here now, we're having a lot more conversations than we did two and a half years ago”
	Integration between academy & senior	Senior Player	“I think that's the biggest change for me. I think from when I was younger, I'd rarely have spoken to the senior coaches when I was in the academy, we were deemed as a completely separate entity”
	Alignment from senior downwards	Academy Player	“I'm getting the same messages from senior coaches and academy coaches so for example, one for me during the year would have been maybe keeping my feet under me in my carry, and I get that from [academy coach] and then I get the same message from [senior coach]. So it's definitely aligned, you can tell the coaches are working together closely”
	Organisational culture	Senior Coach	“It gives you an opportunity to spend time with these players, you get to know them on a personal level. You're doing one on ones with them, you see them as your players, definitely. And you know it does help the relationship. You become familiar with them, you understand their strengths and their weaknesses”
	Organisational culture	Senior Player	“If you merge two separate teams together, they wouldn't know enough about each other to have trust. In order to trust someone, you need to actually know what they're like as a character, not just as a rugby player. And we see that every day, because we're training with them every day”
Rubbing Shoulders	Proximal role models	Senior Coach	“I think the amount of learning that they can gain from just being around senior pros, guys who have been professional players for 7,8,9, years, guys who have played at the highest level for Ireland, some British and Irish Lions”
	Proximal role models	Academy Player	“Very positive, especially just listening to the leaders within the group. I'm a [position] it's massive, seeing how they direct a team, how they handle, the quality of messaging and just how well organized and on the same page they are”
	Utilising Support Network	Senior Coach	“If you were to say, look at [senior player] is very, very good at throwing a sweep pass, go and ask him what are some of the cues he does when he's throwing those sweep passes”
	Utilising Support Network	Senior Player	“Something that probably needs to be driven even more is, is how confident those guys (academy players) are at asking senior players questions. It's a real skill, because some guys have done it, and they're the guys I see learning really quickly, and you actually have more respect for them as a player as well”

Not one track

The first theme, ‘not one track’ related to the individual and ongoing development reflecting the need to provide flexible systems to cater for variation in a player's development. Players and staff perceived accelerated development for academy players as a result of the increased demands of training with the senior squad. The quality of coaching, coupled with elevated demands, provoked a response in academy players: “with the level of detail that academy players are getting, they literally take in what you could learn in three years of a traditional model within a year” (AC1). There was a similar perspective amongst academy players: “competing regularly with players above you created a competitiveness that you didn’t get if you were training against players a level below you…and you just don’t have the numbers in the academy” (AP1).

Reflecting the need for individualisation, there were cautionary suggestions that this wasn’t necessarily the case for all players: “some players definitely accelerate…but you could ask the question, if some players suffer…I’ve seen it with young players before, where they are exposed to a high level too quickly” (SC1). Exposing players to the level of challenge inherent to senior training carried the risk of maladaptive outcomes for individuals. This was especially so for players who lacked the capacity to cope with or learn from senior training.⁴⁴ Thus, it would appear that the potential for accelerated development depended on progressive exposure to challenge and appropriate support: “[player] gets drip fed in and out, is involved in games and training, which expose him gradually to the players he's going to be working with and the coaches he's going to be working with” (AC3).

Participants recognised the potential difficulties associated with a lack of progressive exposure and the need for groundwork to support the Junior to Senior Transition. The integrated model meant less time to develop the necessary skills to support a successful transition.²⁵ A well aspect of pre-JST practice is to help prepare athletes for what is to come.⁴⁵ In this case, the prior experiences of players often left them unprepared: “we were made aware of the demands…It doesn't really hit you until you're in it and you realize how important it was. I don't know if that was me not taking it seriously enough, or not buying into it” (AP4). The elevated challenge had a range of impacts on players, dependent in part on their psychobehavioural characteristics.⁴⁶ There were disadvantages with the integrated model for some: “that very high intensity of training, I probably hadn’t done before and I was in a survival mindset” (AP3). This led to a view that some players were disadvantaged: “they train so hard and train so fast, are we actually negating some guys from their development” (SC2). For this reason, rather than shaping the HPSE to match the needs of each individual, greater effort was applied to understand if players were ready to progress between stages. This view included recognising a player's biography, training and playing history, physical and psycho-social readiness, rather than merely their current performance.¹⁴

An adaptive outcome of the model and greater integration between academy and senior team were increased playing and contract opportunities afforded to academy players. This was partly a consequence of senior coaches better understanding younger players. These opportunities resulted from coaches being able to: “see that you were training well, they weren’t afraid to give you the opportunity” (AP2). One senior coach contrasted this with their previous HPSE where the “academy and senior teams are segregated…academy players rarely come into recognition for selection” (SC2). Where individuals were selected it seemed to create proximal role models, motivating other players, that they: “now had something to chase…he's within reaching distance, give me more of that” (AC3).¹⁸ The combination of these factors meant that there appeared to be an expectation among academy players that they would have opportunities.

Is this right, right now?

The second theme, is this right, right now?, related to a player's stage specific experiences and training. Consistent with prior research, academy players and staff perceived significantly increasing demands of the HPSE,⁴⁷ in particular how players were challenged. Players felt doubt, uncertainty and dips in confidence when they first experienced the integrated model. For one academy player he would: “second guess my ability” (AP2), another would: “question if I should even be here” (AP4). Academy players reflected on the early stages of their transition:

It definitely does test you as a player, your skills, your ability to take on information quickly and put it on the pitch, which is one of the biggest challenges, learning that detail quickly. And on top of that, in the first few weeks, my body was very sore (AP1).

However, over time, this diminished as players’ confidence grew: “I’ve come to a spot where I don’t feel as much pressure in training because I know my skill set has come on so much” (AP3). This suggests that academy players’ responses to these demands have to be considered individually. This was reinforced by an academy coach who suggested that “some players adapt really well to [senior training] and then others still need that time and support” (AC1). That is, players seemed to respond differently based on what they brought to the challenges they faced and also as a consequence of the support offer.

In addition to increasing demands, there were differences in players’ perceived safety, particularly related to perceptions of judgement and comparison: “you would be under a lot of pressure to perform well in training, an expectation to perform well or you were letting yourself and others down” (AP1). A prominent feature of academy player's experience were perceptions of consequence from error.²¹ One player suggested that he was “afraid to make a mistake because obviously you're trying to impress the [senior] coaches” and felt that “you just might want to play it safe and not put yourself in a bad light” (AP1). That is, players believed that they would progress based on their ability to minimise individual errors. Recent research has also explored the transferability of the performance based elements of psychological safety to HPSEs.⁴⁸ Players did not consider it ‘safe’ to make mistakes with limited opportunity for expansive or exploratory behaviour. This suggested a lack of ‘performance safety’, a “temporally dynamic perception emerging from individual-environment interactions, specifically concerning perceptions of consequence from error”.⁴⁹ [ p. 2].

Given that learning from error is fundamental to development,⁵⁰ inhibiting exploratory or expansive behaviour would seem to be a maladaptive feature of the integrated model, though this should be balanced against the reality that players operate in conditions where errors carry significant consequences.⁵¹ As an example coaches referenced the challenge for academy players to: “go out and fail and explore, when the context is everybody else wants to get it right and prepare to beat Glasgow at the weekend” (AC2). An individual academy player highlighted a perceived lack of: “space to explore and push the boundaries on kicking in training” (AP4). To mitigate against a lack of safety, the club added pockets of TDE activity for academy players only: “where there's opportunities to explore with a little bit less scrutiny and make mistakes” (AC3). Academy coaches believed it important to differentiate between sessions, some with more pressure to not make errors and others where it was safe to make errors. It appeared that this required more than verbal support; it also involved creating opportunities for players to train separately, mitigating the perceived social consequences of disrupting senior players’ training.

Looking ahead

The third theme, looking ahead, reflected the adaptive use of long-term aims and methods.⁴ The demands of the HPSE and pressure to win matches created tension between senior performance and player development, hindering what might be considered effective TD coaching.⁵² The primary organisational focus was the senior team winning, yet there also was an organisational commitment to developing players for the longer term. Coaches noted the difficulty of managing resources for a large, diverse training squad: “we have a huge amount of players to coach, our main focus is to prepare the first team on any given week for a match and that takes a huge amount of our focus” (SC1). Exemplifying this dilemma, there was agreement that the integrated model was adaptive for the long-term future of the club, but not necessarily for individual coaches:

As a first team coach, we will be judged on wins. What is to the forefront of my mind is, along with all of this great work with the integrated model, we will essentially be judged on how many games you win (SC1).

Questions were also raised regarding compromises in the senior team's preparation: “like being a teacher in a classroom, it will be harder to cater for all needs at a particular time and what is the best use of time and does the bottom dilute the top?” (SC1). These perceptions were also held by some senior players, with a perceived lack of quality training opposition: “if you're running high class players against each other in opposition it's like steel sharpens steel, the environment creates the product. And if the environment is slightly lacking in quality…does that prepare our best 15 [players]?” (SP1). Similarly, it was suggested that at defined times in the season that team preparation would be supported by “sacrificing five or six of the academy so senior lads aren’t losing out on reps that are competing and performing in those blocks” (SP3). Taken together, these perspectives illustrate a central tension inherent within the integrated model: while academy players can support long-term succession by training alongside senior athletes, their involvement may simultaneously introduce short-term challenges for team preparation.

Despite this, senior coaches and players remained committed to the long-term implementation of the integrated model. Participants also acknowledged that: “at the same time, how good is it that academy players are ready and what happens in a big game if young players are drafted in, I’d say a lot of this is balance” (SP4). Integrating the TDE and HPSE involved a strategic trade-off³; one that required more than changes to organisational structure alone; it required an organisational philosophy that promoted both short-term performance objectives and positive long-term development outcomes, and a willingness to confront inherent tensions.⁵³

Central to the systematic long-term planning process at the club was the graduated exposure of young players to the senior environment. As part of their individual development plans, pre-academy players were invited to train with the senior team, minimising future transitional difficulties: “that early exposure to training with professional players… being coached by senior coaches. They get to understand what it takes… and the level they need to get to” (AC4). Systematic planning also encompassed succession, with communication essential for integration. Staff were aware of the relative status of players; for example, one academy coach reflected that: “if a player goes down, we haven’t gone out and signed short term players which we would have in the past and undermined the work of the academy” (AC1). It was through regular training that coaches were in a position to continuously update their judgements and make more informed decisions to select or deselect academy players.⁵⁴

Player progression relied on coaches’ daily observations, building trust in the players themselves and the efficacy of succession planning. Yet, related to the competing agendas for senior coaches, planning for player development was not as clear as selection. Academy coaches stressed that in the context of a HPSE, there was a sense that player development was “probably not discussed openly enough” (AC1). That is, performance pressure led to player development planning being compromised.

Pulling in the same direction

‘Pulling in the same direction’, concerns the practices that support the development of academy players within a distinct organisational culture.⁵⁵ The club's strategy facilitated integration between academy and senior and was further enhanced by a redesign of the physical environment within the training centre. This redesign supported improved communication and collaboration following the relocation of academy and senior coach offices:

Where we are located, you're able to walk across the office and there's very good relationship dynamics with the senior coaches, they're very approachable. You can go and have very challenging conversations, you're also learning the beliefs behind some of the some of the coaching practices (AC1)

Integration was further enhanced by the presence of academy coaches in senior coaching meetings, enhancing the quality and consistency of messaging to academy players. Both academy players and coaches participated in all team meetings, promoting integrated coaching practices. This was reflected in player's accounts of feedback: “the feedback is definitely aligned and I feel like with more coaches around you I can be like a sponge, you can take what you want from one coach and you can squeeze out what you don’t” (AP3). An important feature of this integrated practice were academy coaches’ management of expectations, “senior coaches were quick to form opinions and would often see the things the [academy] players can’t do and reference and discuss what they can’t do” (AC1). A factor that pointed to the risk that without deliberate efforts, individual perceptions may impact wider organisational integration.

Whilst some practices reflected systemic bi-directional integration, others were more top-down. As such, key stakeholders put significant value on creating and sustaining alignment from senior downwards. Shared understanding across the club underpinned practice, supported by: “our constant common language, so when talking to [player] or [coach] everybody is saying the same things and talking about the same aspects of the game” (SC2). It was also perceived to enhance a player's ability “to come in from the cold and just slot seamlessly into a session and actually have the ability to stand out shows how well [the model] works” (SC2). The same view was held by senior players who contrasted this with their experiences as younger players: “in previous times where there wasn’t even alignment across the academy” (SP2). Alignment was also not only reflected in the language used, but also in how teams played: “from the top down and the ground up, our game has been brought through” (SC2). Yet, per recent discussions in the literature¹² this in itself may be a risk given the potential desirability of players to experience greater variability of experience and movement.⁵⁶

Organisational culture represents the shared values and norms in an organisation.⁵⁷ In a TD context, Henriksen et al., incorporated cultural artefacts, espoused values, and basic assumptions into the Environmental Success Features model. Reflecting on changes to the organisational culture, shared values and attitudes were evident from both the academy and senior participants. For example, one senior player suggested that: “we didn’t get that type of support [as academy players]…the culture is so good now that we want the whole place to do well. We are only as good as our weakest link” (SP3). This suggested a changing attitude towards active support of young players having becoming an organisational norm. Another senior player reflected that the lack of separation between groups enabled senior players to get to know younger players better: “it's [organisational culture] the best I’ve seen it and now we know the [academy] players as individuals, not like before when we were two separate groups” (SP1). These changes reflecting the functioning of the integrated model being more than just structural. It required shifts in the social norms of the organisation, active promotion from leadership and ongoing clarification of individual roles related to development and performance.

Rubbing shoulders

The final theme, ‘rubbing shoulders’, related to the consistently identified need for wide ranging support across TDE research. Utilising a comprehensive, wide ranging support network is considered an important element in supporting a player's development.⁶ The adaptive influence of proximal role models has been widely recognised as a feature of effective practice.¹⁸ Training with senior players afforded young players the opportunity for “learning by osmosis and taken for granted learnings they [academy players] get just from being around the senior players all the time” (AC1). The integrated environment, coupled with a supportive organisational culture, facilitated social learning between players, something enhanced by intentional support strategies to encourage the sharing of knowledge and experience: “you draw on the knowledge of senior players… you try to maximise learning opportunities for the young boys…you just cannot underestimate the fountain of knowledge that is in the room” (SC1). Coaches highlighted that they “would like to see more proactivity from academy players” (AC2) and stressed the importance of promoting players to utilise their support network, something requiring a blend of “deliberate and intentional strategies” (AC1) in a manner akin to orchestration.⁵⁸

Given the highly specialised nature of positions in rugby union, players referenced the influence of role models for their progression: “I’ve been asked to join the lineout callers group for the last two months… just trying to be like a sponge and I was trying to see what way they think”. (AP1). Young players believed that proximity of senior international players had a significant influence on their development through modelling: “you see their behaviour and their habits and how they approach the game, see their routine, even their game day routine” (AP4). Senior players also accepted their role model status, referencing specific examples of sharing technical and tactical knowledge: “I take responsibility and coach [academy player] afterwards for some skills and … send him clips after training sessions, seeing what he can do better” (SP4). Coaches believed that there was an emerging pattern of senior players coaching others: “if you want to see a very good deliberate example look at [senior player] who's taking chop tackle drills consistently and coaching young players” (SC1). This type of social learning also has the potential to be maladaptive if senior players’ behaviour is less appropriate [e.g.,⁵⁹]. As such, it would seem that adaptive social modelling depended on senior players appreciating and accepting their role model status.

Knowing where and how to seek feedback is considered an essential skill to support learning.⁶⁰ Encouraging players to actively utilise their support network seemed a common feature of practice. In contrast to performance safety, which relates to a fear of the consequences of making a mistake, psychological safety relates to the “climate of voice”.⁶¹ Player's fear of judgment related to mistakes seemed distinct from their willingness to ask for help or offer their view.⁴⁹ In the early stages of transitioning into the integrated programme, players were wary of asking senior coaches for help: “one thing I probably regretted not doing earlier is reaching out to them [senior coaches] because they’re all very open” (AP3), but this diminished over time with some being “very comfortable in asking senior coaches for feedback” (AC3). Utilising a range of feedback allowed players “to be flexible and adaptable… if I’m just with one coach, he wants me to play one way but I want to be able to play the game different types of way” (AP1) with this player believing that feedback from multiple sources broadened his perspective.

Unlike one-to-one settings, academy players often felt they lacked the status to voice their views in team meetings: “in terms of speaking out in a meeting…I haven’t played for the senior team yet, so I feel it's hard to give my opinion on something” (AP1). That is, players’ perceptions of the ability to speak up depended on context.⁶² Despite some players’ perception of a lack of psychological safety, senior players suggested that they encouraged academy players to speak up: “when an academy player stands up and talks in a meeting, I'm like, fair play to him, once he backs up his point…it shows their character” (SP4). In this sense, credibility seemed to be associated with the quality of academy player contributions. Considering that the ability to seek out and utilise feedback is important for player development, a perceived lack of psychological safety could limit use of support networks and, in turn, limit the structural advantages of the integrated training model.

General discussion

The present study presents a case study of practice at what has been described as the overlap between TDEs and the newly conceptualised HPSE.¹⁶ Supporting the ongoing need to critically evaluate the quality of the environment⁶³ the research explores the strengths and weaknesses of the integrated environment at Munster rugby from the perspectives of coaches and players.

Whilst a range of previous case study investigations have informed our understanding of TDEs²⁷ the present study deepens our understanding of the tensions presented by the interaction between TDEs and HPSEs. In doing so, we have shown some of the inherent tensions between long-term development and enhancing peak performance. These include a focus on winning now versus winning later, conflicting coaching agendas, maintaining an appropriate balance between challenge and support, the impact of performance safety, and effective management of resources to support short-term and long-term goals. Understanding how different demands affect player development, contrasting coaching roles, and tension between development and performance goals is crucial to inform practice.⁶⁴

While the case offers insight into a professional rugby environment, its context-specific nature must be acknowledged. The structures, resources, and cultural norms at Munster Rugby may differ significantly from those in other contexts. As such, any transfer of practices should be done with caution, considering contextual factors such as sport type, competition level and resourcing. Nonetheless, the mechanisms described are relevant to other TDEs and HPSEs. The generated tensions need to be considered in light of the positionality of the first author, with his role at the organisation risking impression management and the influence of power dynamics.⁶⁵ This needs to be balanced against the unique scientist-practitioner perspective offered.⁶⁶ With this in mind, we urge readers to consider the inherent trade-offs between development and performance that will likely be appropriate to any setting where winning is a strategic aim. Similarly, we provide insight into how an integrated development and performance environment can be designed for adaptive outcomes.

Theoretically, the study poses a number of unique questions, most particularly related to the dilemmas of practice involved at the transition between TDE and HPSE. Most particularly, participants perceived that the heightened demands of the integrated model provoked adaptive responses and accelerated player development. Yet, the potential for accelerated development was contingent on individually appropriate challenge. The risk of maladaptive outcomes were increased if players weren’t prepared to cope with and learn from challenge.⁶⁷ As part of the transition to these higher demands, young players perceived a lack of performance safety due to the selection and social consequences of making errors in training.⁴⁹ Yet, participants seemed to consider this as many players reflected on the analogy of a double edged sword,²¹ one where the demanding conditions of the HPSE reflected the reality of the context, and encouraged players to refine and bring their best performance. Maximising the adaptive and minimising the maladaptive consequences of this tension should be a primary focus for practitioners.

In addition, proximal role models played a significant role in player development. The social learning conferred by supportive training groups seemed to have a significantly adaptive impact on younger players. Contrasting to other research where role models have had a maladaptive impact,⁵⁹ in this case, when senior players accepted their influence as role models, peer to peer coaching emerged as a highly adaptive player development strategy. In practice, this may prompt TDEs to reflect on the limited impact that workshop-based education have on participants in comparison to first-hand experience of challenges, or observing proximal role models navigating demands.⁶⁸ In the absence of integration, counter-intuitive practice is likely to be evident, impacting the effectiveness of TDEs.⁶⁹ Considering the complexity of the overlapping TDE and HPSE, the potential threat associated with a lack of alignment and coherence is likely to be amplified. In this case, this went beyond integrated working practice and required an organisational culture that promoted both short term elite level success and long-term player development.⁷⁰

Finally, given that the characteristics of effective TDEs seem well characterised in the literature, we suggest there is an opportunity for future literature to investigate further case studies of novel practice based on specific intervention such as the integrated model to inform applied practice. In addition, despite the challenges of access, we suggest that greater case study investigation into the practice of HPSEs could prove equally as valuable to practice as work characterising effective practice in TDEs.

Conclusion

By examining the integration of the TDE and HPSE at Munster Rugby, this unique case study explored how one professional rugby organisation sought to reconcile the tensions between long-term development and short-term performance demands. The findings highlight the nuanced and often paradoxical challenges of navigating this balance, with factors such as performance pressure, selection consequences, and cultural inertia acting as double-edged swords; when under or over-emphasised, each has the potential to become maladaptive and disrupt developmental or performance goals. In the Munster environment, the dominant logic (winning) had the potential to cannibalize the subordinate logic (development) unless systemically protected. Our insights present practical implications for sport organisations aiming to create more coherent and developmentally supportive high-performance systems, while also contributing to the growing body of evidence of how developmental and performance imperatives can meaningfully cohere.

Footnotes

ORCID iD

Jamie Taylor

Ethical considerations

Approval was obtained from the institutional ethics committee at Dublin City University (REC 2024/029).

Consent to participate

All participants provided informed consent for participation in the Study.

Consent to publish

All participants provided consent for the use of anonymised quotations in publications arising from the research.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Declaration of conflicting interests

The authors declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The first author is employed by Munster Rugby, the organisation examined in this case study. While this position afforded valuable contextual understanding and access, it also presented the possibility of a bounded perspective. These risks were mitigated through reflexive journaling and regular critical dialogue with co-authors. The authors declare no other conflicts of interest.

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Developing while performing and performing while developing? A case study of an integrated talent development and high performance sport environment at Munster Rugby

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction

The Munster Rugby context

Method

Philosophical position

Reflexivity

Participants

Data collection

Data analysis

Findings

Not one track

Is this right, right now?

Looking ahead

Pulling in the same direction

Rubbing shoulders

General discussion

Conclusion

Footnotes

ORCID iD

Ethical considerations

Consent to participate

Consent to publish

Funding

Declaration of conflicting interests

References