Scottish Rugby Strengthens High-Performance Department

Five new appointments to crucial areas in Scottish Rugby’s High-Performance department have been confirmed to deliver the organisation’s new strategic approach to player development.

The appointment process, led directly by Scottish Rugby Performance Director David Nucifora, has recruited expertise to enhance the performance pathway, nutrition, physiotherapy and rehabilitation, analysis, athletic performance, along with sport science.

The newly appointed leadership team will drive the new High-Performance programme, focusing on accountable and efficient improvements to enable Scotland to produce a continuous supply of elite players to benefit the country in the future.

Alex Ross has been appointed as Head of Athletic Performance and Sports Science, joining from Miami Marlins in the MLB where he is Director of Strength and Conditioning. Alex has previously headed up performance teams at USA Rugby, New York Mets and Argentina Rugby Union, working with Los Pumas at the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Ross’s extensive experience also extends to working with the Jaguares, The Blues and New Zealand Rugby. He also played for the USA Sevens team for two years.

Alex will oversee the strategic development, management and operation of the Scottish Rugby’s Rugby Athletic Performance Programme across both the men’s and women’s game.

Al Kellock will move to Head of Performance Pathways, from Glasgow Warriors where he was Managing Director overseeing operational and sporting matters for over four years, which included the club winning the 2024 United Rugby Championship. Al has vast experience of the elite pathway programme, from his role at Warriors where he supported player recruitment and development aligned with a winning culture, through to his experiences as a player where he was capped 56 times for Scotland, captained his country, and winning the PRO12 with Glasgow.

The Head of Performance Pathways role has been introduced to enhance the development of younger players, working in conjunction with Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby along with other stakeholders to ensure the most promising young players in the country are playing regularly and have the best environments in place to succeed. The role will oversee the national talent pathway (16-19 years) and Professional Team Academies (20-23 years).

James Moore joins Scottish Rugby from the NBA as Head of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation. Moore has vast experiences in sport, joining from the Brooklyn Nets. He also held the position of Head of Performance Services for Team GB at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and was Deputy Chef de Mission Performance Services for Team GB at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Between 2019 and 2023, James worked as Performance Director for Team Andy Murray where he led the clinical delivery to return the legendary Scottish sportsman to the elite level following injury issues.

The Head of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation role will lead the team of physiotherapists within the Scottish Rugby High Performance system to create robust and resilient players capable of sustaining appropriate playing and training loads that will enable them to reach their potential.

Richard Chessor returns to Scottish Rugby as Head of Nutrition from his current role as Head of Science and Medicine for GB Aquatics.

He will work to create and implement a strategy which will be activated throughout all areas of the performance system within Scottish Rugby. He will lead a performance nutrition department that will support the goals of the High-Performance vision, working closely with the Performance Pathway programmes as well as age grade and senior national teams.

James McLaren has joined Scottish Rugby as High-Performance Business Analyst, joining from Ernst & Young where he held the position of Senior Consultant of AI & Data.

The High Performance’s Business Analyst will provide advice to the Performance Director on how to leverage solutions to drive innovation, improve outcomes and optimize existing business practices in the Performance Department.

Scottish Rugby Performance Director David Nucifora said: “We are determined to produce the best young players for our national teams and these appointments will enhance the delivery of our High-Performance department and implement a system that will improve the development of players in Scotland for many years to come.

“Alex Ross has worked with many high performing sports across baseball and rugby around the world and his experience will allow us to take our sports science and athletic performance programmes to the next level. He will work across all areas of the pathway along with our national teams, which will allow for a uniformed approach in an area that will greatly impact how successful our teams are going forward.

“James Moore’s impressive CV speaks for itself and having worked with the best athletes in Britain across many years he is in the best shape to drive forward our physiotherapy and rehabilitation. We already have a strong department and having James at the head of it will only help it excel further.

“Al Kellock is a man who is vastly experienced within high-performance and his recent experiences of leading Glasgow Warriors to the URC title win as managing director is testament to the work he’s done at the club. Having a man of his stature and experience driving our pathways will be game-changing for our system and give our players the best chance of living their potential as rugby players.

“Nutrition is an area that makes the difference to the performance and development of our players and it’s right that we place a huge amount of focus on it to get that crucial aspect right. Richard Chessor is knowledgeable about Scottish Rugby and already has existing relationships that will ensure he hits the ground running.

“In order for the High-Performance department to work at its optimal best we need to get the small details right and introducing a Business Analyst, in James McLaren, will ensure there is connectivity between data and performance which will allow for important decisions to be made with crucial levels of knowledge and information.”

Scottish Rugby CEO Alex Williamson said: “We are fully committed to the future success of our elite players through the High-Performance environment David has developed, which will be delivered through the hugely talented people we already have, and the recruitment of Alex, James, Al, James and Richard who will add their significant experience and knowledge.

“We want to be competitive across the board and it is an investment not only to develop players who can inspire younger generations to pursue their ambitions in rugby it is also fundamental to ensuring we continue to engage fans, attract sponsors and represent Scotland with pride on the international stage through winning teams and clubs.”