Determining the accumulative physical demands on university male rugby players during the Varsity Cup Rugby tournament

Abstract

Rugby is a physically demanding sport that is played at a high-intensity and requires players to have high aerobic and anaerobic capacities. Therefore, the aim of the study was to measure the accumulative physical demands on university male rugby players in the Varsity Cup rugby tournament. The study used a quantitative cross-sectional, descriptive and correlational research design. Global positioning system (GPS) data was collected from thirty-eight conveniently sampled male rugby players at the University of the Western Cape who participated in the Varsity Cup rugby tournament. Participants were divided into primary positional groups, namely, forwards (n = 23) and backs (n =15) and, then, sub-divided into positional sub-groups, namely, front row forwards (n =11), second row forwards (n = 5), loose forwards (n = 7), scrum-halves (n = 3), and inside (n = 5) and outside (n = 7) backs. The accumulative match-play demand was quantified by measuring the total distance covered in a match, maximum running velocity, match intensity (running distance covered at highspeed relative to playing time), player acceleration and deceleration, player impacts, zone running patterns and total amount of high-speed running. When comparing the primary positional groups, the backs achieved the highest total distance (5771.46 ± 1226.23 m), maximum running velocity (8.45 ± 0.71 m·sˉ¹), match intensity (68.93 ± 6.99 m·minˉ¹) and total amount of high-speed running (381.82 ± 205.67 m). Furthermore, when comparing the positional sub-groups, outside backs achieved the highest maximum running velocity (8.77 ±0.60 m·sˉ¹) and total amount of high-speed running (436.80 ± 227.85 m). Inside backs reported the highest total distance covered in a match (6377.60 ± 680.64 m), while scrum-halves reported the highest distance covered relative to playing time (77.00 ± 4.50 m·sˉ¹) and loose forwards reported the highest total impacts (52.20 ± 17.19 impacts), because they carried the ball and defended in confined spaces, close to the advantage line, making it difficult to avoid contact. Outside backs reached the greatest maximum velocity, because they ttacked from depth positions allowing them to carry the ball longer before they made contact, thereby, allowing them to reach higher maximum velocities. In conclusion, the accumulative physical demands imposed on male university rugby players by the Varsity Cup rugby tournament can help coaches create training sessions to meet the demands of and plan more effective training programmes and specific recovery strategies to manage player wellness and optimise performance.