| Abstrakt: |
Rugby Union is a skill-based contact team sport that demands high levels of both physical capacity and tactical skill. Understanding match demands can help to improve training design and subsequently game performance. In this review, a summary of the literature was conducted to review the current practices and methodologies for quantifying match demands in rugby union. A brief literature search was conducted using two major academic databases, Google Scholar and PubMed, to identify relevant research articles for inclusion in this review. A total of 37 Papers were included based on their relevance to the topic, publication type, date of publication, and research design. Accurate quantification of match demands in rugby union is a complex task that currently requires practitioners to consider different types of technology, sampling duration, positional differences, and type of play to determine locomotive and contact workloads. Practitioners should consider using a range of GPS metrics, including distance in multiple speed zones, accelerations, decelerations, and metabolic measures to develop a comprehensive understanding of the locomotive demands that occur throughout the match. Due to its prevalence and importance to the game, practitioners should include a method of quantifying contacts when evaluating overall match workload, such as video coding. Absolute metric values are useful for quantifying total workload, whilst relative values can be used to understand and replicate match intensity. To assess and replicate the peak demands that occur organically throughout the match, practitioners should consider using the average and worst-case scenario match demands during ball-in-play periods. When evaluating match demands and designing training, player position and type of play should be considered to prepare players appropriately for these unique aspects of the game. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
