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World Rugby issues new contact training load guidance after global study in a bid to reduce injuries.
World Rugby and International Rugby Players publishing new contact training load guidance in an effort to reduce injuries; follows global study on almost 600 players from the men’s and women’s games; players recommended to have just 15 minutes of full-contact training, across two days, per week
skysports – New contact training load guidance has been published by World Rugby and International Rugby Players (IRP) following a global study on almost 600 players across 18 elite men’s and women’s competitions.
Aimed at reducing injury risk and supporting short and long-term player welfare, the recommendations suggest a maximum of 15 minutes full contact training per week – across two days – and with both Mondays and Fridays having zero full contact training to allow for recovery and preparation.
Meanwhile, controlled contact training is suggested to be limited to 40 minutes per week with at least one day of zero contact of any type, while live set-piece training will be at no more than 30 minutes per week.
Elite teams such as Leinster, Clermont Auvergne, Benetton and Southland have signed up and they have partnered with World Rugby to measure the effect of these guidelines by using specific mouthguards to monitor implementation and measure the outcomes.
Dr Eanna Falvey, chief medical officer at World Rugby, explained: “Our immediate priority is to get teams to adopt the guidance and the positive feedback we have received indicates that they will.
“By monitoring their adoption, including using Prevent biometrics’ instrumented mouthguard technology, we will be able to review and identify any further opportunities to advance welfare outcomes.”
Leinster coach Stuart Lancaster was on World Rugby’s advisory group for contact load along with former All Black Conrad Smith, now head of player welfare at the governing body.
“We have a responsibility to make the game as safe as possible for all our players,” Lancaster added.
“For coaches, optimising training plays a significant role in achieving that objective.
“It is important that we do not overdo contact load across the week in order that players are fresh, injury-free and ready for match days.
“These guidelines provide a practical and impactful approach to this central area of player preparation and management.”
The recommendations are based on a comprehensive review of the latest injury data and while training patterns vary across competitions, on average full contact training currently lasts 21 minutes per week and the average total contact load per week is at 118 minutes.
Incidences of training injuries are relatively low to that of matches, but the volume of training performed means a relatively high proportion – 35 to 40 per cent – of all injuries during a season occur in training, with the majority of these soft tissue injuries.
Joe Schmidt, World Rugby director of rugby and high performance, said: “Training has increasingly played an important role in injury prevention as well as performance.
“While there is a lot less full contact training than many people might imagine, it is our hope that having a central set of guidelines will further inform players and coaches of key considerations for any contact that is done during training.
“These new guidelines, developed by leading experts and supported by the game, are by necessity a work in progress and will be monitored and further researched to understand the positive impact on player welfare. We are encouraged by the response that we have received so far.”
National players’ associations, national unions, international and domestic competitions – in addition to top coaches and clubs – are understood to be behind the guidance, which also considers the overall load for players of a particular age or injury profile and will feature in the men’s and women’s Rugby World Cup player welfare standards.
Omar Hassanein, chief executive at IRP, insisted the global representative body for professional rugby players had been encouraged by the response from its members to the guidelines.
“From an International Rugby Players’ perspective, this project represents a significant and very relevant piece of work relating to contact load,” he said.
“We’ve worked closely with our member bodies in gathering approximately 600 responses from across the globe, allowing us to have sufficient data to then be assessed by industry experts.
Wallabies coach questions new contact guidance
Supersport — Wallabies coach Dave Rennie on Thursday questioned new World Rugby guidance capping how much full-contact training teams can do, suggesting it could be detrimental and hard to police.
The sport’s governing body has recommended a maximum of 15 minutes full-contact training per week, across two days, in a bid to reduce injuries following a global study on almost 600 players.
Mondays and Fridays would have zero full-contact training to allow for recovery and preparation.
Controlled contact training was recommended to have a 40-minute limit per week.
That would include at least one day of zero contact, while live set-piece training would be no more than 30 minutes a week.
Rennie, who said he was still digesting the guidance, which is not mandatory, estimated the Wallabies did eight minutes of contact work on Tuesday, and said a 15-minute weekly cap could be hard to implement.
“Who’s timing it? I’m sure there’s a lot of work gone into coming up with these numbers but I’m not certain how that will pan out,” he said ahead of Saturday’s Rugby Championship clash with Argentina in Townsville.
“Thirty-five to 40 percent of injuries happen at training, which means 60 to 65 happen at games.
“And you have to make sure from a training point of view you’re getting the conditioning and contact load into them (players) so that they can deal with it on game day and have the technique required,” he added.
“There’s focus around reducing injuries but the most important thing is ensuring our athletes have the skills and knowledge to deal with the contact.”
All Blacks coach Ian Foster said he was unaware of the guidelines when questioned ahead of his team’s weekend clash with world champions South Africa, also in Townsville, Australia.
“It’s the first I’ve heard of that. 15 minutes would be about right, would be my gut feel,” he said.
“It depends what you classify as full contact but it sounds about right to me.”
Elite club teams such as Leinster and Clermont have signed up and partnered with World Rugby to measure the effect of the guidelines by using specific mouth guards to monitor implementation and measure the outcomes.
Leinster coach Stuart Lancaster was on World Rugby’s advisory group for contact load along with former All Black Conrad Smith, now head of player welfare at the governing body.
“We have a responsibility to make the game as safe as possible for all our players,” Lancaster said. — Sky Sports.
