Mental skills coach Aaron Walsh to work with Scotland during Autumn Nations Series

Aaron Walsh has been working with New Zealand Super Rugby side, the Chiefs. (Photo by Greg Bowker/Getty Images)

Walsh is currently employed by the Chiefs in New Zealand but has also worked in baseball and other sports. He will join up with the Scotland squad this week as they prepare for the autumn Test series which begins with a match against Australia at Murrayfield on Saturday and continues with games against Fiji, New Zealand and Argentina in November.

“I wanted to share that I have accepted an offer to work with the Scotland Rugby Team for the next 12 months,” Walsh tweeted. “Leave for the autumn internationals this week and return for the Six Nations and Rugby World Cup. Thankful to the Chiefs for their willingness to support this. Privilege.”

Walsh, who later deleted the tweet, saying it was a “little premature”, has also worked with the Warriors rugby league club, Hockey New Zealand and New Zealand Football, NZ National Women's Olympics and Auckland Aces cricket side. He has also had Major League Baseball players as clients. He has described his work as helping sportspeople to reach their potential.

“Around 20 years ago, I had the opportunity to work with athletes in Major League Baseball,” he said in an interview with the Chiefs website. “One thing I began to regularly observe was players being unable to translate their potential into performance. They were physically and technically gifted but because of not being able to manage their life away from sport and their thoughts under pressure they never achieved what they set out to do.”