Development of an online metric rugby analysis tool

Optimising conditioning of team sport players such as rugby union requires effective assessment, planning, implementation and monitoring. While there are few problems with the first three of these stages, the common Super 15 rugby strategy of conditioning games makes effective monitoring difficult. That is, instead of conditioning drills involving a series of defined movements over set distances, the players are involved in games to develop both conditioning and specific technical and/or tactical skills. The result is often highly individualised movement patterns, which has made monitoring distance and speed throughout the session problematic. The recent invention of small rugged portable global positioning system (GPS) units that integrate triaxial accelerometers and heart rate monitors, should provide a useful monitoring tool. In order for these units to be useful monitoring tools, the relevant metrics must be determined and their accuracy defined. The metrics must also be reported in a manner that is meaningful for trainers, coaches and support staff. This presentation will focus on the work of the authors with Statsports ltd (Dundalk, Ireland) who have developed GPS units for rugby union. This work involves identifying a set of metrics for monitoring the Chiefs super 15 rugby team during training and games. An online analysis package created by the authors will be demonstrated and opportunities for collaboration on further developments will be discussed