- Full contact training to be restricted to 15 minutes per week
- Guidelines aimed at reducing injuries and long-term risks
World Rugby will introduce fresh guidelines designed to reduce the amount of contact training done by rugby players. The game’s governing body, which worked with the representative body International Rugby Players (IRP), hopes a six-point checklist will help to reduce training-related injuries and improve performance by limiting players’ contact load between matches.
The guidelines recommend restricting midweek contact training to two days broken down into three categories: 15 minutes per week of full-contact training during which players are unrestrained and operate at high speed in body to body collisions, 40 minutes of controlled contact utilising tackle shields and pads, running at reduced speeds, and 30 minutes of live set-piece training with lineouts, scrums and mauls at a high intensity.
