Dimundo et al 2021 IJSC Anthropometric Physical and Relative Age Characteristics of an English Premiership Rugby Union Academy.pdf (496.07 kB)
The anthropometric, physical, and relative age characteristics of an English Premiership rugby union academy
journal contribution
posted on 2021-12-01, 12:06 authored by Francesco Dimundo, Matthew Cole, Richard BlagroveRichard Blagrove, Alexander BT McAuley, Kevin Till, Mike Hall, Daniele Pacini, Adam L KellyLong-term athlete development is a primary focus for the England Rugby Football Union (RFU). The purpose of this study was to explore the anthropometric, physical, and relative age characteristics of rugby union academy players based on age group and playing position. Seventy-eight participants were examined for height, body mass, 10 and 20 m sprint, countermovement jump, reactive strength index, aerobic capacity, isometric hip extension, dominant handgrip strength, and birth quartile (BQ) across three age categories (i.e., under-16, under-18, and under-21) and two positions (forwards and backs). ANOVA and Kruskall–Wallis analysis were used to examine differences across each age category and position. TukeyHSD and Dunn’s test with Bonferroni correction was used for further post-hoc analysis. BQ distributions were compared against national norms using chi-square analysis. Results revealed that both older forwards (P=0.005) and backs (P=0.002) had significantly greater body mass, maximal aerobic capacity, and power compared to younger players. However, older forwards had slower 10 m sprint times compared to younger forwards. Moreover, relatively older players were significantly overrepresented across all age groups when compared to relatively younger players. Findings suggest that: (a) players should aim to develop greater parameters of body mass and aerobic capacity; (b) forwards should aim to develop acceleration and strength; (c) backs should aim to develop power and quickness; (d) players need to develop anthropometric and physical qualities and differences are apparent by age and position; and, (e) coaches should consider relative age when recruiting and developing young players.
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School
- Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences
Published in
International Journal of Strength and ConditioningVolume
1Issue
1Publisher
International Universities Strength and Conditioning AssociationVersion
- VoR (Version of Record)
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© The AuthorsPublisher statement
This is an Open Access Article. It is published by International Universities Strength and Conditioning Association under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0). Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Acceptance date
2021-09-13Publication date
2021-10-20Copyright date
2021eISSN
2634-2235Publisher version
Language
- en
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Deposit date: 30 November 2021Usage metrics
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