Movement Demands of Elite U20 International Rugby Union Players.

Daniel Cunningham,Robin Eager,Christian Cook,Neil Taylor,Scott Drawer,Liam P Kilduff,David A Shearer,Øyvind Sandbakk

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0153275

Daniel Cunningham, Robin Eager + Show 6 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0153275

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to quantify movement demands of elite international age grade (U20) rugby union players during competitive tournament match play. Forty elite professional players from an U20 international performance squad were monitored using 10Hz global positioning systems (GPS) during 15 international tournament matches during the 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons. Data on distances, velocities, accelerations, decelerations, high metabolic load (HML) distance and efforts, and number of sprints were derived. Data files from players who played over 60 min (n = 161) were separated firstly into Forwards and Backs, and more specifically into six positional groups; FR—Front Row (prop & hooker), SR—Second Row, BR—Back Row (Flankers & No.8), HB—Half Backs (scrum half & outside half), MF—Midfield (centres), B3 –Back Three (wings & full back) for match analysis. Analysis revealed significant differences between forwards and backs positions. Backs scored higher on all variables measured with the exception of number of moderate accelerations, decelerations (no difference). The centres covered the greatest total distance with the front row covering the least (6.51 ± 0.71 vs 4.97 ± 0.75 km, p < 0.001). The front row also covered the least high speed running (HSR) distance compared to the back three (211.6 ± 112.7 vs 728.4 ± 150.2 m, p < 0.001) who covered the most HSR distance, affirming that backs cover greater distances but forwards have greater contact loads. These findings highlight for the first time differences in the movement characteristics of elite age grade rugby union players specific to positional roles.

Highlights

Rugby Union is an intermittent high intensity invasion game, involving periods of static exertions, collisions and running, interspersed with variable periods of lower intensity work and rest [1,2,3]
Mean and standard deviations for all variables indicated that all dependent variables values were greater for backs (Table 1)
Our study provides the first insight into the movement demands of U20 international rugby matches played in 2014 and 2015

Summary

Introduction

Rugby Union is an intermittent high intensity invasion game, involving periods of static exertions, collisions and running, interspersed with variable periods of lower intensity work and rest [1,2,3]. Micro sensor technology (e.g. GPS) is currently used widely in team sports to quantify the workloads of players during training and matches at the elite level of the game [1, 2, 4,5,6]; PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0153275. Movement Demands of Elite U20 Rugby Union Players Micro sensor technology (e.g. GPS) is currently used widely in team sports to quantify the workloads of players during training and matches at the elite level of the game [1, 2, 4,5,6]; PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0153275 April 7, 2016

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