Injury Incidence

Overall match injury incidence, a measure of how frequently injuries occur, in elite international women’s 15-a-side rugby has been documented in the region of 8.3 to 53 injuries per 1000 player-match-hours (Fuller and Taylor, 2017; 2023). In practical terms, this range translates to a team suffering a time-loss injury on average every one to six matches. Findings have demonstrated little clear difference in match injury incidence for backs and forwards in international women’s rugby (Fuller and Taylor, 2017; 2023; 2024; 2026), and there have been limited opportunities to investigate injury outcomes within positional units due to the limited volume of data currently available. 

In one of the only published studies from elite domestic women’s rugby union, Starling and colleagues (2023) documented a match injury incidence rate over six playing seasons of 39 injuries per 1000 player-match-hours, within the range of incidence rates observed at international playing levels. This study also identified that forwards (46/1000 player-match-hours) sustained injuries significantly more frequently than backs (31/1000 player-match-hours). 

Injury incidence rates for international womens rugby 7s matchplay typically exceed figures seen with rugby 15s (Fuller, Taylor and Raftery, 2017; Fuller and Taylor, 2020), with backs seeming to sustain injuries marginally more frequently than forwards (Fuller and Taylor, 2021; 2022b; 2025).