OBJECTIVES To establish an accurate and comprehensive injury incidence registry of all rugby union-related catastrophic events in South Africa between 2008 and 2011. An additional aim was to investigate correlates associated with these injuries. DESIGN Prospective. SETTING The South African amateur and professional rugby-playing population. PARTICIPANTS An estimated 529 483 Junior and 121...

The purpose of the present study was to (a) examine player-movement patterns to determine total distance covered during competitive Rugby League match play using global positioning systems (GPSs) and (b) examine pre, during, and postmatch creatine kinase (CK) and endocrine responses to competitive Rugby League match play. Seventeen elite rugby league players were monitored for a single game. Pl...

BACKGROUND Rugby union players can take several days to fully recover from competition. Muscle damage induced during the match has a major role in player recovery; however the specific characteristics of match play that predict post-match muscle damage remains unclear. We examined the relationships between a marker of muscle damage and performance characteristics associated with physical contac...

OBJECTIVES The current study retrospectively investigated the differences in anthropometric and fitness characteristics of junior rugby league players selected onto a talent identification and development (TID) programme between long-term career progression levels (i.e., amateur, academy, professional). DESIGN Retrospective design. METHODS Former junior rugby league players (N=580) selected...

BACKGROUND Head and neck injury is relatively common in Rugby Union. Despite this, strength and range-of-motion characteristics of the cervical spine are poorly characterised. The aim of this study was to provide data on the strength and range-of-motion of the cervical spine of professional rugby players to guide clinical rehabilitation. METHODS A cohort study was performed evaluating 27 play...

BACKGROUND The loads to which professional rugby players are subjected has been identified as a concern by coaches, players and administrators. In November 2014, World Rugby commissioned an expert group to identify the physical demands and non-physical load issues associated with participation in professional rugby. OBJECTIVE To describe the current state of knowledge about the loads encounte...

AIM To systematically evaluate the evidence-based literature on surgical treatment interventions for elite rugby players with anterior shoulder instability. METHODS We conducted a systematic review according to the PRISMA guidelines. A literature search was performed in PubMed, EMBASE and Google Scholar using the following search terms: "rugby" and "shoulder" in combination with "instability"...

Rugby union, alongside other collision and contact sports, faces ever mounting pressure from increased recognition of concussive injuries the risks they present to athletes, both in short-term long-term. Here, media is a central component increasing for cultural change. This research analysed data 524 self-selected survey respondents examine rugby union fans’ stakeholders’ perceptions portrayal...

A 29 year old myopic man sustained two separate giant retinal tears in his right eye following deliberate eye gouging during a rugby tackle. These were successfully repaired by vitrectomy and intraocular silicone oil injection. Although the postoperative course was complicated by pupil block glaucoma, he regained corrected visual acuity of 6/5 after oil removal. This injury highlights the poten...

This paper presents a new method of analyzing Japanese noun phrases of the form N1 no N2. The Japanese postposition no roughly corresponds to of, but it has much broader usage. The method exploits a definition of N2 in a dictionary. For example, rugby no coach can be interpreted as a person who teaches technique in rugby. We illustrate the effectiveness of the method by the analysis of 300 test...