Injury surveillance in a rugby tournament

Abstract

Objective-To investigate injuries in international rugby football. Methods-All injuries that led to temporary stoppage of the game or to the substitution of a player during the Rugby World Cup qualifying tournament were recorded. Six matches were played, involving the Arabian Gulf, Kenya, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. Results-47 injuries were recorded, giving an injury rate of eight per match. The number of injuries decreased from 38-3% in the first matches to 23-4% in the final ones. The most serious injury was a concussion and the majority of the injuries affected soft tissues. Anatomically, the lower limbs suffered most injuries (46-80/6), followed by the head (21-3%), trunk (17-0%), and upper limbs (12-8%). Slightly more injuries occurred in the defensive half of the field of play (53-2%) than in the offensive half (46.8%). More injuries occurred in the second half (61-7%) than in the first half (38.3%). Conclusions-Protective equipment should be introduced to miniimise the number and seriousness of injuries in rugby.