Padded Headgear does not Reduce the Incidence of Match Concussions in Professional Men's Rugby Union: A Case-control Study of 417 Cases.

Concussion is the most common match injury in rugby union. Some players wear padded headgear, but whether this protects against concussion is unclear. In professional male rugby union players, we examined: (i) the association between the use of headgear and match concussion injury incidence, and (ii) whether wearing headgear influenced time to return to play following concussion.

Rugby union referees' physical and physiological demands across different competitive levels.

Background: The purpose of this study was to compare the match demands of officiating 15-a-side rugby union at different competitive levels.

Methods: Data was collected using Global Navigation Satellite Systems from 21 referees during 82 competitive rugby union matches across three different competitive levels: 1) professional; 2) semi-professional; 3) amateur.

Results: Compared with referees at the professional and semi-professional levels, referees at the amateur level covered less total distance (P=0.

Physical Demands of Refereeing Rugby Sevens Matches at Different Competitive Levels.

Sant'Anna, RT, Roberts, SP, Moore, LJ, and Stokes, KA. Physical demands of refereeing rugby sevens matches at different competitive levels. J Strength Cond Res 35(11): 3164-3169, 2021-The aim of this study was to compare the physical demands of officiating across different competitive levels in rugby sevens.

Aerobic power and field test results of amateur 15-a-side rugby union players.

Background: The aim of the present study was to verify whether it is possible to predict aerobic power in amateur 15-a-side rugby union players through the Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test Level 1 (Yo-Yo IRT1) and the 5-meter Multiple Shuttle Test (5-m MST).

Methods: Forty-two amateur players - 22 forwards and 20 backs - were evaluated in three phases: 1) maximum treadmill test in the laboratory; 2) field test set by a drawing in the first phase; and 3) second field test. Descriptive, comparison, correlation, regression and level of agreement analyses were performed.