International Rugby Board undertaking study to observe injuries during Rugby World Cup 2011
Rugby is a contact sport, guaranteeing that the player will be susceptible to injury and hurt. Since the game is fast paced, the players strong, the rugby life is full of injuries, some of which are serious and some are not.
The approaching RWC 2011 is indicative of the fact that the players will need to be fitter and faster than ever. Thus a series of fitness and training routines are taken up by the competing teams. Aside from trainings and before the finalisation of the final
team that will play in the World Cup, the players also go through several other games such as the Super Rugby, Tri-Nations, French Top 14, Six Nations, and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) Asian 5 Nations (A5N) Top Five tournament, to
name a few.
These recent tournaments, which have been played or have to be played, have all come up with one thing common during the match, and that is an injury or injuries. There have been many such instances reported from within these tournament matches, and the
International Rugby Board (IRB) has become concerned, especially with the oncoming RWC 2011. They want the player’s health and wellbeing to be optimum during and after the RWC 2011.
For this purpose, the IRB plans to focus on the injuries sustained by players. This the IRB has identified will be in the form of a complete and inclusive Injury Surveillance Study (ISS) undertaken during the RWC 2011. The study will detail the injury’s
frequency, noting how many times it takes place.
Furthermore, the characteristics of the injury will also be noted, as will be its severity. These injuries will also be catalogued where they have been caused, that is during a match or training. All the competing 20 teams of RWC 2011 will be under observation
for this study.
Similarly, three studies on rugby injuries were conducted in 2005. These looked at injuries taking place in both international and local matches. An analogous study was also conducted in 2006, in the United States to look at how many rugby injuries were
reported, and it was seen that no such study was previously conducted although the number of rugby players amounted to 60,000.
The present study will be conducted by Dr Colin Fuller, from the University of Nottingham in England, who has spent more than 15 years being involved in similar endeavours with both rugby and soccer. His team will also include Dr Steve Targett, the Chief
Medical Officer of New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) and Dr Martin Raftery, the Chief Medical Officer of IRB.
Such a study is aimed to judge and make educated decisions to change and amend Rugby laws and rules, pertaining to the safety of its players. The ISS will also pave way for further research into the field of physiotherapy and injury relief. The IRB is right
to be focusing on improving the laws and rules of Rugby in order to help minimise injuries in the subsequent games of RWC 2011.
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