Differences in Adiposity Profile and Body Fat Distribution between Forwards and Backs in Sub-Elite Spanish Female Rugby Union Players by Dolores Escrivá, Jordi Caplliure-Llopis, Inmaculada Benet, Gonzalo Mariscal, Juan Vicente Mampel, Carlos Barrios

“…The participants included in this study, which was the first to analyze sub-elite players, show thinner skinfolds, lower fat mass, and lesser fat percentage than previously reported for elite female rugby union players. Forwards were heavier and had higher body mass index (BMI) and fat mass, thicker skinfolds, and higher fat percentage than back players. …”
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Peak Compression Force Physics in Rugby Union Scrum by Benjamin Lallemand, Christophe Clanet, Sylvain Blanchard, Patricio Noriega, Julien Piscione, Olivier Chaplain, Didier Retière, Caroline Cohen

“…Scrums play a major role in Rugby Union games, and are historically known as a showdown between the two packs of opposing teams, composed of their eight forwards players organized in a 3-4-1 configuration, respectively. …”
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Physical and Fitness Characteristics of Elite Professional Rugby Union Players by Logan Posthumus, Campbell Macgregor, Paul Winwood, Katrina Darry, Matthew Driller, Nicholas Gill

“…This study explored the physical and fitness characteristics of elite professional rugby union players and examined the relationships between these characteristics within forwards and backs. …”
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Position-specific workload of professional rugby union players during tactical periodization training. by Xiaopan Hu, Simon Boisbluche, Kilian Philippe, Olivier Maurelli, Xiangyu Ren, Shichang Li, Bo Xu, Jacques Prioux

“…The positional workload characteristics in rugby union on three acquisition days (i.e. strength, endurance, and speed days) of tactical periodization are still relatively unknown. …”
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Change of Direction Deficit in National Team Rugby Union Players: Is There an Influence of Playing Position? by Tomás T. Freitas, Pedro E. Alcaraz, Chris Bishop, Julio Calleja-González, Ademir F. S. Arruda, Aristide Guerriero, Valter P. Reis, Lucas A. Pereira, Irineu Loturco

“…The aim of this study was to investigate the change of direction (COD) ability and deficits of elite rugby union players, discriminating between position (backs and forwards), and between “faster and slower players”, in multiple COD tasks. …”
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Running demands in club, regional, national, and international provincial New Zealand rugby union competitions by Peter Olsen, Richard Deuchrass, Shaun Owen, Matt Lilley, James Jowsey, Michael Hamlin

“…The demands of national and international professional rugby union matches are well established, however, there has not been a comparative study investigating running demands in New Zealand teams playing in club (amateur), Heartland Championship (semi-professional Div 2), the Mitre 10 Cup (semi-professional Div 1) or Super Rugby (professional) competitions. …”
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The Relationship between Training Load Measures and Next-Day Well-Being in Rugby Union Players by Richard Taylor, Tony D. Myers, Dajo Sanders, Matthew Ellis, Ibrahim Akubat

“…With institutional ethics approval, ten academy rugby union players (Five forwards, and five backs) with a local National League One club agreed to participate in the study (aged; 18.4 ± 1.0 years, height; 181.3 ± 5.9 cm, body mass 85.9 ± 13.0 kg, VO_2max 56.2 ± 6.8 mL·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹). …”
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The Development of a Resting Metabolic Rate Prediction Equation for Professional Male Rugby Union Players by Logan Posthumus, Matthew Driller, Paul Winwood, Nicholas Gill

“…However, the accuracy of current prediction equations for professional rugby union players remains unclear. The aims of this study were to examine the RMR of professional male rugby union players compared to nine commonly used prediction equations and develop and validate RMR prediction equations specific to professional male rugby union players. …”
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Physical Fitness Tests as Predictors of High-Intensity Running Performance in Rugby by Takashi Sato, Minas Nalbandian, Masaki Takeda

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Anthropometric and physical performance attributes between positions of elite youth rugby union / Amirul Mustaqim Ahmad by Ahmad, Amirul Mustaqim

“…The aims of this study is to determine the anthropometric measurement physical performance attributes on playing positions which are backlines and forwards in rugby union. The anthropometric measurement and physical performance attributes consists of Body Mass Index(BMt), body fat percentage, agility, power, and maximal aerobic power. …”
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A comparison of running and contact loads in U18 and U20 international rugby union competition by Alexis Peeters, Julien Piscione, Mathieu Lacome, Christopher Carling, Nicolas Babault

“…The purpose of the present study was to characterize and compare locomotor and contact loads in U18 and U20 international rugby union competition during matches, and specifically during peak match-play phases using short rolling epochs and continuous ball-in-play (BIP) sequences. 20 international matches from French national teams were analysed in the U18 and U20 Six Nations Tournament respectively and World Rugby U20 Championship. …”
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An Analysis of Repeated High Intensity Efforts (RHIE) across Different Competition Levels in Elite Rugby Union by Adam Sheehan, Shane Malone, Anthony Weldon, Aled Waters, Kieran Collins

“…The current investigation aimed to understand the differing positional demands across two elite rugby union competitions, with special reference to high-intensity effort (HIE) and repeated high-intensity effort (RHIE) activity. …”
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The contributing external load factors to internal load during small-sided games in professional rugby union players by Marco Zanin, Marco Zanin, Adelchi Azzalini, Jayamini Ranaweera, Jayamini Ranaweera, Dan Weaving, Joshua Darrall-Jones, Gregory Roe, Gregory Roe

“…IntroductionThis study aimed to investigate which external load variables were associated with internal load during three small-sided games (SSG) in professional rugby union players.MethodsForty professional rugby union players (22 forwards, 18 backs) competing in the English Gallagher Premiership were recruited. …”
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Dietary Intake over a 7-Day Training and Game Period in Female Varsity Rugby Union Players by Claire Traversa, Danielle L. E. Nyman, Lawrence L. Spriet

“…This study estimated the daily energy intake (EI) and energy expenditure (TDEE) in female varsity rugby union players during a weekly training/game cycle. …”
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Validation of an instrumented mouthguard in rugby union—a pilot study comparing impact sensor technology to video analysis by Byron Field, Gordon Waddington, Andrew McKune, Andrew McKune, Roland Goecke, Andrew J. Gardner

“…The aim of this study is to assess the relationship between an instrumented mouthguard and video analysis in detection of direct head impacts in rugby union.DesignPilot Study - Observational Cohort designMethodsThe instrumented mouthguard was worn by ten (3 backs, 7 forwards) professional Rugby Union players during the 2020–21 Gallagher Premiership (UK) season. …”
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Individual In-Situ GPS-Derived Acceleration-Speed Profiling: Toward Automatization and Refinement in Male Professional Rugby Union Players by Nathan Miguens, Franck Brocherie, Loïc Moulié, Patrick Milhet, Mathieu Bon, Pierre Lassus, Jean-François Toussaint, Adrien Sedeaud

“…The present study aimed to propose an automatized method of individual GPS-derived in-situ AS profiling in a professional rugby union setting. Method AS profiles of forty-nine male professional rugby union players representing 61.5 million positions, from which acceleration was derived from speed during 51 training sessions and 11 official games, were analyzed. …”
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The Influence of Contextual Factors on the Relative Age Effect in Male International Rugby Union: The Impact of Sociocultural Influences and Playing Position by Paolo Riccardo Brustio, Adam Leigh Kelly, Corrado Lupo, Alexandru Nicolae Ungureanu

“…The purpose of this study is not only to establish whether the relative age effect (RAE) exists in male international rugby union players, but also to investigate the impact of sociocultural influences (i.e., northern and southern hemispheres) and playing position (i.e., backs, forwards, and scrum-halves). …”
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Psychosocial and Physiological Factors Affecting Selection to Regional Age-Grade Rugby Union Squads: A Machine Learning Approach by Julian Owen, Robin Owen, Jessica Hughes, Josh Leach, Dior Anderson, Eleri Jones

“…Currently, the set of psychosocial variables that determine talent selection in youth Rugby Union are unknown, with the literature almost exclusively focusing on physiological variables. …”
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Relationships between physical qualities and key performance indicators during match-play in senior international rugby union players. by Daniel J Cunningham, David A Shearer, Scott Drawer, Ben Pollard, Christian J Cook, Mark Bennett, Mark Russell, Liam P Kilduff

“…Limited studies have however investigated relationships between physical capabilities and key performance indicators (KPIs) of rugby union match-play. Elite professional players, categorised as forwards (n = 15) or backs (n = 14), from an international rugby union squad (n = 29) undertook assessments of isometric mid-thigh pull (IMTP), bilateral and unilateral countermovement jumps (CMJ) and drop jumps (DJ; from 40 and 20 cm, respectively), and assessment of acceleration (10 m), a 5 m weighted sled drive, and a Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test level 1 (Yo-Yo IRTL1). …”
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Effects of preseason training on body composition, running performance, biochemical markers and workload variation in professional rugby union players by Xiaopan Hu, Noe Thierry Baba, Kilian Philippe, Danyang Jiang, Simon Boisbluche, Olivier Maurelli, Jacques Prioux

“…Few studies have examined the impact of a preseason training intervention through systematic measures in Pro D2 rugby union (RU). Therefore, this study aimed to describe the effects of 12 weeks of preseason training (three blocks) on body composition, running performance, biochemical markers, and workload (WL) variation in professional RU players. …”
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