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Published VersionCC BY V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Assessing the locomotor demands of international men's and women's rugby sevens match-play according to passage of play
PLoS One, Vol.19(6), pp.1-12
2024
PMID: 38875265
Abstract
This study aimed to evaluate the effect of discrete passages of play on locomotor demands of international men's and women's rugby sevens matches and their relationship with winning or losing. Thirteen men's and thirteen women's international rugby sevens players wore 10 Hz Global Positioning Systems during twelve Tokyo Olympic games matches (966 observations; 507 for men, 459 for women). Discrete ball-in-play periods were categorised as: 'Single-phase defence', 'single-phase attack', 'multi-phase defence', 'multi-phase attack', 'multi-phase defence to attack', or 'multi-phase attack to defence'. Relative total distance, alongside high-speed (>5.0 m center dot s(-1)), acceleration (>3 m center dot s(-2)), and deceleration (>3 m center dot s(-2)) distances were recorded for each passage. Separately for men and women, linear mixed models examined the effect of passage type and match outcome (win or loss) on locomotor demands, whilst controlling for opposition ranking. In men, relative total distance ranged from 137 m center dot min(-1) to 174 m center dot min(-1) for 'multi-phase defence to attack' and 'multi-phase attack', respectively. In women, 'multi-phase attack' elicited the lowest relative total distance (118 m center dot min(-1)), whereas the greatest values (186 m center dot min(-1)) were recorded for 'single-phase defence'. For men, there were significant interactions between match outcome and passage type for relative total (p<0.001) and high-speed (p = 0.006) distance. During 'multi-phase attack', relative total distance was greater for wins versus losses (174 vs 138 m.min(-1), p = 0.024). However, for 'single-phase defence', relative total distance was lower for wins (128 vs 164 m.min(-1), p<0.001). For women, there were significant interactions between match outcome and passage type for relative total (p = 0.036), high-speed (p = 0.003), and deceleration (p = 0.015) distances. Locomotor responses were influenced by passage type and match result for men and women. Knowing the demands of each passage type may inform training drills targeted at developing match-play-specific physical, technical, and tactical adaptations. Understanding how passages differ between matches won and lost could also inform team technical/tactical preparation including selection.
Details
- Title
- Assessing the locomotor demands of international men's and women's rugby sevens match-play according to passage of play
- Authors
- Samuel P. Hills (Corresponding Author) - Bournemouth UniversityErwan Izri - Swansea UniversityDaniel Howells - University of BrightonBen Lonergan - Chelsea Football ClubLiam P. Kilduff - Swansea UniversityMark Waldron - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Legacy
- Publication details
- PLoS One, Vol.19(6), pp.1-12
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science
- Date published
- 2024
- DOI
- 10.1371/journal.pone.0304186
- ISSN
- 1932-6203
- PMID
- 38875265
- Copyright note
- © 2024 Hills et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
- Data Availability
- Data cannot be shared publicly because they are owned by the International sports teams who contributed to the research. This is a condition of ethics approval from the Swansea University Ethics Committee. Data are available from the Swansea University Ethics Committee (by application, contact researchgovernance@swansea.ac.uk) for researchers who meet the criteria for access to confidential data.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Legacy
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991047798302621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web Of Science research areas
- Sport Sciences