Game Demands (Locomotion)

Rugby is a sport with both locomotion demands and collision or impact demands and conditioning must enable the players to deal with these demands. When considering locomotion demands, the coach must consider two key aspects:

1. the different positional demands
2. the playing level of the players.

Research has shown that backs will typically cover greater distances during a game than forwards and at higher speeds. Flanagan and colleagues in 2017 looked at the locomotion game demands of elite junior rugby. They used the GPS data from 10 games for two teams at the 2015 World Rugby U20 Championships. The typical locomotion demands per game showed the average distance covered per game was from 3944 to 6209m, with players covering on average 56 to 71 meters per minute. Mean High Metabolic Load Distance which was defined as the distance covered during high speed running and during high accelerative actions was 372 –1040m across positions. This meant that 8.7 – 16.7% of the total distance covered in the game was high metabolic load distance. On average players performed 3-27 sprints per game and 11-34 accelerations per game. Across all positions, the number of accelerations exceeded the number of sprints, per game. The wide ranges in these locomotion variables highlight the big differences in positional locomotion demands.

Table 1. below from Flanagan and colleagues in 2017 shows the breakdown of the locomotion demands by position which provides further position specific information on demands that can be used to help make training more specific. Dist. refers to distance, HSR refers to high speed running (HSR_abs refers to a pre-set high speed running threshold of anything over 5.5 m/s and HSR_ind refers to an individualised high speed running threshold calculated in the paper to reflect the individuals speed capability) and HMLD is high metabolic load distance.

Table 1. Game locomotion demands in elite junior rugby union

Read and colleagues in 2017 looked at the match play locomotion demands of U18 academy and schoolboy rugby. GPS data from six academy games and six school games was analysed.  The locomotion variables examined were total distance covered, and this was split into pre-determined speed thresholds for adolescent rugby union players: walking (0–1.94 m/s), jogging (1.95–3.33 m/s), striding (3.34–5.83 m/s) and sprinting (>5.84 m/s). The maximal sprint speed (MSS) each player achieved during a match was also recorded. They found that on average academy players recorded greater total and jogging distances during games compared to the schoolboy players. Academy forwards also covered greater distance sprinting during game play compared to the schoolboy forwards. When looking at the differences in positions, backs covered a greater total distance, had a higher maximal sprint speed and greater walking and sprinting distance when compared to forwards, while forwards had greater jogging distance. This research adds to the understanding of the locomotion demands in rugby and it highlights the importance of positional differences and of playing level to the demands placed on the players.