Edinburgh Napier University

  Background:Training and match exposure has been shown to influence injury risk in elite Rugby Union players.

Objective: To show how different load-measures can be used to quantify player training and match exposure over a professional Rugby Union season.

Design: A prospective, observational cohort study design was adopted to collect exposure data for all gym and pitch-based training sessions & competitive matches.

Setting: Data were collected from Scottish Rugby Union’s professional (Men’s 15-a-side) teams (Men’s International Squad; Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby) for training and match play
purposes.

Participants: All first team players (n = 148) were eligible to be included in this study from the three professional teams included.

Methods: Gym & pitch-based training and match play data were collected over the 2017/18 season via weekly team logs & Global Positioning System (GPS) devices. Weekly exposure was calculated by summing each 7-day period over the season. Acute:chronic workload ratio (ACWR) measures (rolling and exponentially weighted moving average; EWMA) were then calculated, as well as week-to-week absolute changes in exposure, and 2-, 3- and 4-week cumulative exposures.

Results: Throughout the season, players spent a total of 28737.9 hours in training, and 1649.3 hours in match play. On average, players were exposed to 6.51 (±3.15) hours of training and match play per week. Squads averaged 542.6 (±212.0) hours of training and match play per week. On average, weekly ACWRs were 0.75 (±0.17) (EWMA), and 0.96 (±0.27) (rolling); week-toweek change in exposure was 129.5 hours (± 119.3); Cumulative 2-, 3- and 4-week exposures
were 1083.3 (±416.5), 1623.1 (±600.3) and 2161.1 (±778.6) hours, respectively.

Conclusions: Depending on the measures adopted, team coaches and practitioners will see a different impression of how the exposure data collected over a season may influence injury risk.