Profiling the tackle and its injury characteristics in premier New Zealand club rugby union players over a complete season.

OBJECTIVES: RugbySmart is a safe tackle technique education programme. Our objective was to identify whether the RugbySmart-recommended safe tackle technique was exhibited by club rugby players and whether tackle-related injuries showed poor tackle technique characteristics. METHODS: The prospective cohort design enabled 28 senior club based amateur male rugby union players from New Zealand to be followed over 18 matches in the 2017 rugby season. Game video analysis by three analysts provided categorisation of tackle technique into type, approach, foot contact, leading foot and rear foot position, face and head position. Injuries were diagnosed by the same sports medicine physician. RESULTS: In the 18 matches, 28 players completed a combined total of 3006 tackles, with only six tackle-related injuries sustained. Notable findings included: (1) forwards complete more tackles than backs; (2) shoulder tackles were the most prevalent tackle; (3) good tackle technique as promoted by RugbySmart was demonstrated in 57.9% of all tackles and (4) of the six tackle-related injuries, two occurred despite RugbySmart desired tackle techniques. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to investigate whether players were performing the recommended 'safe tackle technique' proposed by New Zealand Rugby's RugbySmart programme. As two of six tackle-related injuries occurred despite the RugbySmart preferred technique being performed, further technique analysis and a larger sample are needed to determine what techniques reduce risk of injury during tackles. As only 57.9% of tackles were performed with RugbySmart head and foot positions, further research and education regarding tackle technique recommendations are needed.

Senior Club-Level Rugby Union Player's Positional Movement Performance Using Individualized Velocity Thresholds and Accelerometer-Derived Impacts in Matches.

ABSTRACT: Takamori, S, Hamlin, MJ, Kieser, DC, King, D, Hume, P, Yamazaki, T, Hachiya, M, and Olsen, PD. Senior club-level rugby union player's positional movement performance using individualized velocity thresholds and accelerometer-derived impacts in matches. J Strength Cond Res 36(3): 710-716, 2022-Game demands of professional rugby union players have been well documented; however, there is minimal game demand information using individualized velocity thresholds and collision loads, particularly for amateurs. This study investigated movement patterns of 20 male amateur rugby players during 16 senior premier division one matches using global positioning system (GPS) devices sampling at 10 Hz. Derived GPS variables included distances, velocities, sprinting, and impacts. Data files from 86 player games (≥60 minutes of play per game) were categorized into broad (forwards and backs) and specific (front row, second row, back row, half back, inside back, and outside back) positional groups for analysis. It was most likely that backs covered more distance in the high-speed running (>60% maximal velocity) zone (502 ± 157 m) compared with forwards (238 ± 147 m) (100/0/0%, chances of positive/trivial/negative differences, effect size [ES] = 1.3), performed more striding (backs 1,116 ± 240, forwards 954 ± 240 m, 96/4/0%, ES = 0.5), and sprinting (backs 121 ± 58, forwards 90 ± 65 m, 93/7/0%, ES = 0.5). However, forwards had higher collision loads (35 ± 12 arbitrary units) compared with backs (20 ± 6, 99.9/0.1/0%, ES = 1.3) with back row forwards completing the highest collision load of any playing position (40 ± 13). Our example match movement performance and impact information is valuable to coaches and support staff in preparing player profiles for similar-level rugby players to help manage their workloads.