AIM To investigate incidence of concussion, clinical outcomes and subsequent injury risk following concussion. METHODS In a two-season (2012/2013, 2013/2014) prospective cohort study, incidence of diagnosed match concussions (injuries/1000 h), median time interval to subsequent injury of any type (survival time) and time spent at each stage of the graduated return to play pathway were determi...

BACKGROUND The tackle event in rugby is a technical and physical contest between opposing players. A player's ability to tolerate and contest during a tackle is a prerequisite for safe participation and success in rugby. Little is known about the relationship between tackle training and tackling in matches in rugby union. Therefore, we investigated the relationships between players' training at...

Vitamin D deficiency is a global health concern that is prevalent in Ireland. The vitamin D status of elite Irish athletes following implementation of a revised supplementation policy in 2010/2011 has not been explored to date. This study aimed to assess the vitamin D status of elite Irish athletes participating in high-profile sports and establish if equatorial travel, supplementation and/or s...

The effectiveness of selected physiological and perceptual measures for monitoring training load and fatigue was studied in 16 male elite rugby sevens players during a 6-week intense training block (IT) and 2-week tapering (TAP). Daily training load (TL) and strain (TS) as well as weekly total score of fatigue (TSF) were quantified respectively by the session-rating of perceived exertion (RPE) ...

OBJECTIVES Concussion remains one of the inherent risks of participation in rugby league. While other injuries incurred by rugby league players have been well studied, less focus and attention has been directed towards concussion. REVIEW METHOD The current review examined all articles published in English from 1900 up to June 2013 pertaining to concussion in rugby league players. DATA SOURC...

Comprehensive understanding and application of decision making is important for the professional practice and status of sports coaches. Accordingly, building on a strong work base exploring the use of professional judgment and decision making (PJDM) in sport, we report a preliminary investigation into uses of intuition by high-level coaches. Two contrasting groups of high-level coaches from adv...

Physical demands such as distance covered and speed of individual players during football, handball, rugby league (13 players), and rugby union (15 players, hereinafter “rugby”) games were analyzed to create training plans suitable for each sport (Tanisho et al., 2009; Tanaka et al., 2002; Gabbett et al., 2012). In the 1980s, Kawase et al. (1988) conducted research on total distances covered pe...

Software is developed in increasingly dynamic environments. Organizations need the capability to deal with uncertainty and to react to unexpected changes in requirements and technologies. Agile methods already improve the flexibility towards changes and with the emergence of continuous delivery, regular feedback loops have become possible. The abilities to maintain high code quality through rev...

Fractures of the spinal column during rugby matches of all codes are rare but catastrophic, especially when associated with spinal cord injury. The cervical spine is vulnerable during trauma to the head and neck in contact sports. Spinal injuries reported during rugby matches have almost exclusively involved the cervical region, often with neurological sequelae. This is the first reported case ...

1 Leeds Beckett University, Institute for Sport, Physical Activity and Leisure, Leeds, United Kingdom. 2 Leeds Rhinos Rugby League Club, Leeds, United Kingdom. 3 Yorkshire Carnegie Rugby Club, Leeds, United Kingdom. 4 The Rugby Football League, Leeds, United Kingdom. . Authors submitted their contribution to the article to the editorial board. Accepted for printing in the Journal of Human Kinet...