Category: Player and Coach Development
Rugby Science Update 14
A Coaching Session Framework to Facilitate Long-Term Athletic Development
The purpose of this article is to describe an evidence-based coaching session framework that can be applied in various coaching sessions. This framework is aimed to guide and optimise long-term athlete development across different youth ages, multiple sports, various development stages and considers the integration of both physical development and technical, tactical, and psychosocial development. Finally, it addresses how coaches can apply the framework. The coaching framework is based on RAMPAGE – Raise, Activate, Mobilize, Prepare, Activity, Games, Evaluate. Raise involves increasing the body temperature to prevent injuries and improve the athlete’s motor performance. This phase aims to enhance the locomotor skills and should include movement in all directions. Activate and Mobilize refers to the framework’s section involving dynamic movement. Dynamic movements facilitate physical preparation, reduce injury risks, and incorporate stability and mobility skills. The Prepare stage involves high-intensity movements (such as sprinting, jumping, or throwing) with maximal effort. This phase prepares athletes for high intensity movements in the session or, from a developmental perspective, harnesses specific physical capabilities. The Activity stage focuses on the coaching session’s main content. Games facilitate the development of technical, tactical, physical, and psychosocial aspects through activities such as small-sided games, adding in an element of fun to the coaching session. The Evaluate stage involves the cool-down process, providing an opportunity for ‘add-ons’ and flexibility. This phase encourages reflection on the coaching session, with the use of the rating of perceived challenge scale to monitor the technical and tactical aspects of their training. Additionally, the authors recommend focusing on communication, control, confidence, concentration, resilience, presence, self-awareness, and commitment for personal and psychosocial development.
This study is published in Strength and Conditioning Journal.
The aim of this study is to describe and analyse the locomotor movements of the players in the National Rugby League Women’s (NRLW) competition in Australia and New Zealand. A total of 117 players participated this study. All match (n = 12) and demographic data were collected from the NRLW website. The locomotor data were collected from the NRLW using Catapult OptimEyes S5 receivers. The data were collected from the 2018 and 2019 NRLW Holden Premiership seasons. Mean speed (m min−1), mean high-speed (>12 km h−1; m min−1), mean acceleration (m s−2) and points scored were the match variables used for analysis. The results showed that greater high speed running and lower mean acceleration was associated with more points scored, indicating that less accelerating and decelerating or faster speed of play was associated with more points being scored. Furthermore, other findings indicated that the difference in mean high-speed running between teams was associated with a higher points differential. For example, if a team completed 10% more high-speed running than their opposition, they were likely to score an average of 3.2 points more during a given match-half. In summary, this study suggests that high speed running should be considered a crucial characteristic in elite female rugby league conditioning programmes. Moreover, enhancing players’ high-speed running capacity may contribute to improved performance.
This study is published in Journal of Sports Sciences.
The purpose of this study is to describe the clinical presentation of players with a concussion during the Head Injury Assessment (HIA) 1, 2 and 3 process and to identify whether any sub-tests are associated with longer RTP time after a concussion. A total of 380 cases of match concussion from 3 seasons (2018–2021) of English club rugby were analysed. Players were identified with a possible concussion using either Criteria 1 signs during a match or during the 3-stage HIA process. Following the identification of a concussion, SCAT5 was used to diagnose the concussion and players then entered the 6-stage Gradual Return to Play protocol. Players were classified based on their time loss, with shorter RTP cased defined as RTP within 7 days of diagnosis and longer RTP cases as RTP in 8 or more days after diagnosis. Th study revealed that players who had been diagnosed with a concussion 12 months prior to their current concussion were 2.6 times more likely to be in the longer RTP cases. The severity of acute and sub-acute symptoms was identified as a predictor of slower RTP cases. Moreover, the study found that 31% of players with abnormal results in HIA3 (48 hours post diagnosis) were in the shorter RTP category, whereas the majority of players with symptom worsening during HIA3 were in the longer RTP cases. Interestingly, no cognitive or balance sub-test abnormalities or impairments are associated with longer return to play time. As a recommendation, authors suggest implementing a more conservative concussion management approach in sports.
This study is published in the Journal Sport and Health Sciences.
Rugby Science Update 9
More than rugby: A scoping review of coaches in rugby
The purpose of this review was to synthesize the current coach-focused literature on rugby union, rugby league and rugby sevens. Using a scoping review approach, 105 articles were analysed. Ten coaches were also consulted for insight into whether they found the review beneficial for coaches and how researchers can improve the coach–research relationship. 44 of these studies reported male coaches, 3 reported female coaches and 18 reported both male and female coaches. Most of the studies focused on coaches within rugby union (76%) and rugby league (14%). The remainder of the studies focused on a combination of rugby cohorts (4%), and only one study focused on rugby sevens (1%). Three themes were formed after a thematic analysis which included themes on coach knowledge (n=71), coach pedagogies (n=30) and coach development (n=4). The key finding within this review was that coaches had a good understanding of injury risk, prevention and management, specifically on concussions. The main strategy to improve coaches’ understanding of injury risk, prevention, and management of all aspects of injury is by providing coach educational resources, such as workshops and injury prevention programmes. Also, coaches are encouraged to build knowledge on all aspects related to rugby performance, such as technical and tactical knowledge. Another key finding of this review was the importance of the athlete–coach relationship, as well as coach reflective practice. Additionally, there is a shift in coaching pedagogy, from a coach-centred approach towards a player-centred approach. This review focused on the three themes of key research areas and found that integrating all themes could improve rugby coaching research and practice moving forward.
This study is published in International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching.
Mental Fatigue Impairs Tackling Technique in Amateur Rugby Union Players
The aim of this study was to test the effects of a mentally fatiguing protocol on rugby union players’ tackling technique on both their dominant and non-dominant shoulders. 20 amateur rugby union players from the Western Province Super League A participated in this study. The study used a randomized, crossover, counterbalanced design. Players visited the laboratory twice: once for the non-Mental Fatigue condition (control) and then the Mental Fatigue condition. After a warmup, the players underwent the protocol. The protocol required each player to perform 4 sets of 6 tackles on the tackle simulator located at the University of Cape Town. Three tackles on the dominant shoulder and three tackles on the non-dominant shoulder were completed in random order. A lighting system that is mounted behind the tackle dummy flashed prior to the dummy being released to indicate which shoulder the player should tackle. After the baseline tackle set (the first set of tackles), the players in the Mental Fatigue condition performed a 30-minute Stroop Task, with two 5-minute Stroop top-ups after the next two sets. If players were completing the control condition, the players rested and were allowed to read magazines for the same time frame. At a later stage, each tackle was recorded and scored using a standardized list of technical criteria to determine how technically correct each tackle was. The authors found that mental fatigue can impair a rugby player’s tackle technique, and these impairments are greater when tackling on the non-dominant shoulder. The technical components that were significantly impaired by the mental fatigue protocol was “explosiveness (rapid movement) on contact.” It is recommended that sport practitioners include a mental fatigue component into tackle training programmes to improve and develop tackle technique and capacity.
This study is published in International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance.
‘Body on the line’: experiences of tackle injury in women’s rugby union – a grounded theory study
The aim of this study was to describe and understand the tackle injury experiences and behaviours in women’s rugby union. This study undertook a qualitative grounded theory approach, which explores how and why women rugby union players behave in different contexts. Twenty-one women rugby union players were interviewed about their tackling injury experience from Canada, South Africa, and Europe. After the data analysis was completed, the findings were split into three categories: (1) embodied understandings of tackle injury; (2) gender and tackle injury risk and (3) influences on tackle injury behaviours. The authors found that within the rugby culture, players normalised pain and injury, which impacts the players physical and emotional health. Female rugby players desired respect and recognition from coaches and teammates to prove their place in rugby. Therefore, players often played through their injuries and ‘put their body on the line’. Furthermore, players would be rewarded for ‘putting their bodies on the line’. Players also reported that tackle experiences were filled with fear, stemming from being underprepared for the tackle. The authors recommended that tackle injury prevention should become a priority at all levels to ensure women have an inclusive and equal playing environment compared to their male counterparts.
This study is published in British Journal of Sports Medicine.
Rugby Science Update 8
Professional male rugby union players’ perceived psychological recovery and physical regeneration during the off-season
The aim of this study was to explain the phenomenon of psychological recovery and physical regeneration of male professional rugby union players during the off-season. The study used a qualitative approach to gather the beliefs and experiences of players regarding their mental and physical health and well-being across the off-season period and identify the psychological and physical strategies adopted to recover and regenerate in preparation for the upcoming season. The study interviewed 34 male professional players, and found that the off-season is characterised by three phases that players undergo to preserve their mental and physical health and well-being to recover from the previous season and regenerate in preparation for the upcoming season. These include decompression from previous season, cognitive detachment from the rugby environment and preparation for preseason. Successful progression through all three phases appears to be influenced by variables including the work and life demands a player is encountering at the time, contextual factors such as their health status (ie, currently injured or ill), and their level of experience in the sport (eg, previous experiences of the off-season). The authors recommend players should receive sufficient time (5–6 weeks) in the off-season to progress through the phases of recovery and regeneration to prepare for the upcoming season, with consideration for the impact of work and life demands, contextual factors and experience levels. Also, education should be provided to all stakeholders regarding the importance of the off-season period for well-being (recovery and regeneration), together with strategies that can be used to enhance the quality of this process (ie, physically distancing from work environment to support cognitive detachment from rugby, engaging in development activities that nourish holistic identity and personal skill development). Clinicians should also support, where appropriate, player subgroups at risk of threats to well-being and welfare in the off-season period (long term or recently injured and younger professionals).
This is study is published in BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine and is open access.
Tackling sport-related concussion: effectiveness of lowering the maximum legal height of the tackle in amateur male rugby – a cross-sectional analytical study
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a tackle law variation that reduces the maximum legal tackle height from the line of the shoulder of the ball barrier, to the line of the armpit, on injury, head injury and sport-related concussion (SRC) incidence in amateur community rugby union. The study used a cross-sectional analytical design over the period 2018 (control) and 2019 (intervention) in a South African collegiate student rugby competition – which included 42 teams. Reducing the legal tackle height from the line of the shoulder to the armpit of the ball carrier in community amateur rugby showed a trend towards reducing injuries, head injuries and SRC, however, these injury trends were not statistically different.
This study is published in Injury Prevention and is open access.
Performance indicators associated with match outcome within the United Rugby Championship
This study had 3 aims i) identify performance indicators associated with match outcomes in the United Rugby Championship (URC), ii) compare efficacy of isolated data and data relative to opposition in predicting match outcome, and iii) investigate whether reduced performance indicator statistical models can reproduce predictive accuracy. The study analysed 27 performance indicators from 96 matches during the 2020-2021 URC season. Five key performances indicators differentiated between winning and losing in the URC – kicks from hand, metres made, clean breaks, turnovers conceded and scrum penalties. Kicking was highlighted as a key driver for match success, with the probability of winning higher for a team kicking more than their opposition. Also, team performance data are much more efficient at predicting match outcomes when expressed relative to the opposition’s performance.
This study is published in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport and is open access.
Scott, G. A., Bezodis, N., Waldron, M., Bennett, M., Church, S., Kilduff, L. P., & Brown, M. R. (2023). Performance indicators associated with match outcome within the United Rugby Championship. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 26(1), 63-68.
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