Injury Prevention and Risk Management

Welcome to the Injury Prevention and Risk Management strand.

The online modules in this strand:

should help you to manage the inherent risks of a contact sport by putting appropriate safeguards in place
provide a structured exercise programme to reduce injuries in youth and adult community rugby.

These modules are useful for all participants in our game, whether players, coaches, parents, officials, volunteers, or administrators.

Activate Programme

A physical preparation resource that can reduce injuries in rugby

Everybody involved in organising and playing Rugby has a duty of care in relation to the players. The Rugby Ready programme is intended to raise awareness of good practice and help stakeholders manage the inherent risks of a contact sport by putting appropriate safeguards in place.

Tackle Ready

Player welfare is World Rugby’s number one priority. We continually work to ensure our stakeholders can access high quality, up to date training and education opportunities supported by a wide range of resources to help them to make our game safer and better. With an average of 176 tackles per game, it is vital to ensure that all players (and coaches) can perform (and coach) the tackle safely and effectively. The Tackle Ready programme provides an in-depth framework which focuses on five key stages, each with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Breakdown Ready

Player welfare is World Rugby’s number one priority. We continually work to ensure our stakeholders can access high quality, up to date training and education opportunities supported by a wide range of resources to help them to make our game safer and better. With approximately 150-180 breakdowns per game, it is vital to ensure that all players (and coaches) can perform (and coach) both the attacking and defensive breakdown effectively. The Breakdown Ready programme provides an in-depth framework for both attack and defence, each with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Face-to-face courses and accreditations

World Rugby works in conjunction with our Regional Associations and member unions to deliver a needs-based, blended learning portfolio of online learning and face-to-face attendance/accreditation courses. Our aim is to enable our member unions to become self-sustainable in the delivery of the entry/mid-level courses, whilst our higher level courses are delivered on a regional basis. Some of our larger member unions choose to deliver their own suite of Training and Education courses, so please check with your union to find out what training courses are available in the first instance. World Rugby’s face-to-face courses and accreditations are delivered by our network of over 2000 Licenced Trainers and Educators. This network delivers our courses on behalf of, and on the approval of, both their member unions and World Rugby. They are trained, quality assured, and licenced by World Rugby to do so. The full list of courses delivered is available below, along with the online pre-requsites which participants must complete before attending a course.