Rugby sports have become a common game
Rugby sports have become a common game in recent decades, accelerated by the building of stadia and professional concerns on the performance of the prayers, game rules, and sportsmanship involved. The game comprises two teams of 7, 15, or ten players each observing the fair play, rules, and the standards of the sport within the 80 minutes. Objectively, the team scoring the greatest number of points emerges as the winner of the match. However, the sport involves a lot of physical contact during the play and training, and, as such, it inherits dangers to the professional players. To avoid the surfacing dangers, it is the responsibility of the players to ensure they are technically and physically prepared to play according to the rules. Furthermore, the players must be committed to engaging in safe practices against colleagues and opponents players. Discipline and sporting behaviors are also crucial during the play. Several analyses including sports analysis, physiological analysis, injury, and biomechanical analysis are conducted to enhance safety and fair play of the Rugby sport.
Rugby union players have a wide range of physical attributes based on the game position of the player, trainni9ng frequency, and the objectives of the union. These attributes make the sport more typical as comp-armed with other sports where homogeneity in the physical attributes is more common. Each professional player is designated position as outlined by the International Rugby Board. The position is outlined as follows; loose head prop, hooker, tight head prop, left block, right lock, left flanker, number eight, scrum half, fly half, left wing, left center, right center, right wing, and full back, from position 1 to 15 respectively for a 15 men or women rugby union team. For each positional group,’ there is a unique physical requirement and skills required.
The physiological performance and response of rugby union players are significant to assess for optimal performance of Rugby professional players. The attributes objected in physiology include the maximum oxygen uptake of the players, the basic aerobic performance, and muscle strength and power of the players. Firstly, the optimal oxygen up-take for a rugby union player has occasionally been proposed as the aerobic indicator of the player’s fitness and thus the intended performance level. Though debatable, the significance of the high oxygen uptake is crucial for high-intensity efforts. Like in soccer the high oxygen uptake is positively related to the distance covered and the number of sprints during the involvement with the ball. Notably, the high-intensity efforts of the players have concurrent success in performance and winning the matches. Diverse, methods have been conducted to measure the oxygen uptake with the common being liter per minute with a relative to the body mass of the player (Duthie, Pyne & Hooper, 2003). Therefore with high oxygen uptake rugby union players reflect high efforts and performances.
Secondly, energy contributions during rugby sports games, training, and related activities are aerobic. With the game involving high execution tackles acceleration and force play during mauling and rucking, high power ad energy is involved and thus required amongst the Rugby union players. Like many other sports, back position holders are imposed on facing the opponents frequently. The objective of the union being to win the game, thus players at such positions are expected to have a high aerobic performance to tackle the opponents. Forward and middle positions may not require high aerobic performances as they need less tackle and little explosive acceleration. However, aerobic performance is negatively related to a high level of fatigue during the minutes of the sport. To debar instances of low performances the international board recommends such players be substituted to keep the objectives of the sport.
Finally, Muscle strength and power is a physiological assessment that has been related to the performance of the rugby union players. Rugby performance is defined by high power and muscular strength for substantial success in a competition. Particularly, the players holding the position of the rucks, mauls, and scrums require high musical strength to hail their optimal performance. Given that that is frequent contact and tackling during the play, muscle strength may be crucial to maintain the high speed of the players thus escaping the frequent tackles from opponents that may debar their early scoring or overall win of the game. Additionally, muscular strength and power are significant to the players during the training to keep healthy and avoid unintended injuries. However the objective of the rugby union is to hail as many wins as possible, their sponsoring organization may require the players to develop muscles to maintain the cultural value of the sport. Notably just as in the aerobic performance of the players, the muscle strength and power angst the players can be categorized positional wise.
With high explosive acceleration and high-intensity tackling, there is the normality of injuries in the rugby sport. Notably, the most common injuries suffered by rugby sportsmen and women include scrimmaging injuries, lumbar spine-related injuries, with shoulder band calf muscle injuries taking the greatest number of the reported injuries (Trewartha et al., 2015). In most cases, the typical injuries outlined are dependent on the position the player is holding. Based on the positional role loose head props are most affected by the injuries compared to the forward players due to the high tacking instances. The common injuries amongst loop head props are the shoulder injuries as a result of constant shoulders ruffing with the opponents. However spinal injuries have taken the biggest concern due to its nature of fatality. Though this injury is not common as a result of protective gear costumed to the players, the forward players are prone to such injuries. High accelerated fall to the scoring end is the major cause of the spinal injuries. To prevent the fatality and ending career of the rugby union players due to injuries, it is recommendable to enhance protection techniques for the sport.
Like soccer and related sports fields, rugby fields have various dimensions objectively designed to enhance the performance and safety of the players. Rugby fields are divided into dimensional spaces well defined by lines normally marked in white color. The field comprises of the following specifications; playing enclosure surface, this space should not be hard surfaces to ensure the safety of the players. Therefore concrete and asphalt should not be a component making this surface. The required dimensions measurement include, the playing area does not exceed a width of 70 meters and a length of 100 meters, each goal should not exceed 22 meters in length and all the area from the goal; line to the dead ball line should be rectangular and not less than 10 meters. Dimensions of the crossbar and the goal post should be as follows; 5.6 meters should be the distances between the two goal post, crossbar should be 3.0 meters from the ground and the goal post height should be not less than 3.4 meters.
Additionally, 14 flag posts with flags hanged are planted with a height of not less than 1.2 meters from the ground. The flag posts are systematically kept at the intersection of the goal line and the touch in goal intersection and deadline and the touch in goal line intersections. Moreover, the flag posts are positioned 22 meters line and the corresponding halfway line should be within the playing enclosure an exactly 2 meters outside the touchlines areas. However, some rugby union players and officials may not be comfortable with the ratification of most of the fields. In such instances, the players or the responsible managers should communicate to the referee before the kickoff of the compensations. Notably, instances of attires provided from the field laboratories may not be sufficiently fit for the professional players. The component of the field should correspond with the attires provided for the safety and fitness of the players. For instant Rugby fields comparing concrete material in various parts usable by the players, should dress the players with attires that will protect them against such hard surfaces.
During a rugby normal match, the playtime normally covers two halves of 40 minutes with players covering distance ranging between 4000-8000meters based on their positional role and performance level of the player. Outside back, adjacent and the forward covering 5500-8000 meters (m), 6000-7000m, and 3500-6000 meters respectively. However diverse players cover different distances not only because of the factors based on their various fitness levels but also the external conditions such as weather conditions during the matches. The average heart rate of the rugby union players expressed in %HRmax has been assessed and reported and follows; 83.5+- 1.9%, 81.5+-4.1%, and 84.1+-8.2% for outside back covering adjustable covering and forwards covering respectively. The heart rate is also dependent on the age of the player, frequency of training, and the general health condition of the players.
The data acquired from the various fitness assessment conducted amongst the rugby players have differing strengthens and weaknesses.
Advantageously, the common data that match most of the players are used to measure the performance of the various players in the match. Those failing to hit the thresholds are reassumed to be less performing and thus substituted or engaged in frequent training to improve. Additionally, the parameters are used in rugby academies for coaching and training the young stars. However, there are weaknesses in the data provided by the various assessments. For instant players who are disqualified for not corresponding with the parameters and data accumulated from the assessment, maybe having special efforts they are contributing to their teams during the matches. Substituting and benching such players, has evidently resulted in the unions losing matches. Weather conditions and the general nature of the field may debar players from achieving some of the expected performance thresholds.
Various performance assessment has been conducted amongst the rugby union players during matches and training. Commonly the performance indicators have been classified as n=204, n=85,n=53, and n=50 for the attack, defense, set pieces, and other positions respectively (Colomer et al., 2020). The validity of most of the perfomance indicators is based on the source they are acquired. Coaches, players, and analysts have significantly contributed to the assessment of the players to gather the data. Importantly, the data has been collected from world-class rugby professional matches. However, the data has limitations varying from the colliding information gathered from the same players by different researchers. For instance, the basic performance indicator differs dependably on factors such as the effort of the opponent team and the muscular power of the players. Other weaknesses of the data include the conditions at which they were collected and the influences that were imposed on the specific players under assessment.
Various data collected from the rugby player’s assessment are used to inform coaches in rugby academies and training sessions. Through the data and practical response of different reputable rugby players, the coaches use the data to enhance the performances of the players. Those achieving certain thresholds, be it, muscular power, aerobic performance, heart rate, and tackling techniques are considered successful in their training and academies. Additionally, the data is used to review the history and consequence of various performances over particular periods. For instant, the trainers may recommend the players to use certain tactics that have been applied by players before in successful matches. Engaging the parameters as the limit amongst the players during training does not only contribute to the performance of the players but also motivates the players the player to do better than the documented players worldwide.
As addressed, rugby union players undergo various training to enhance their fitness and performance in the field. To optimally achieve this, recommendations are documented by the international rugby board to improve and enhance rugby sport amongst women, men, and the young stars in various rugby training academies. Additionally, to ensure continued sports career amongst the rugby players safety is enhanced through the recommendation of protective attires and improving the condition of the rugby fields. Assessments are also conducted to set the pace and assess the required improvement in rugby sports, particularly to the players. Therefore, focusing on the needs of the rugby union players is crucial to the overall community in rugby sports.