Abstract
Rugby union is played at a high intensity making it an appealing sport for spectators to watch. Law changes have been implemented to make the sport more competitive, to create continuity in the sport and to improve the enjoyment factor for the players and spectators. First National Bank (FNB) Varsity Cup Rugby have strived to be innovative by introducing new law variations and strives to make a difference in sport. The aim of this study was to determine the effect that the law changes implemented and match situational variables in the FNB Varsity Cup Rugby during 2016 until 2018 had affected the players’ external load during match play. This study followed a longitudinal retrospective quantitative research design using secondary data from a university rugby union team. A total of 61 players’ external match load was captured on the Catapult Optimeye X4 micro-technology devices. The data was analysed and compared to each season’s data with reference to the law changes implemented during each season and match influencing factors such as match outcome, match location and quality of opponent. The tests done for the results of this research include independent t-tests, ANOVA, two-way ANOVA and Tukey HSD post-hoc analysis. The players’ total distances, high-speed running distances and PlayerLoad were more affected compared to other variables during the three seasons. The front row forwards covered the most distances in 2016 (4317±2017m) when compared to the other seasons, while the back-row forwards and inside backs had higher running distances in 2017 (4554±1787m; 5566±1852m). Whereas, the outside backs ran larger distances in the 2018 season (6337±737m). The backline players ran larger total distances than the forwards did during match play. Additionally, when separating the players into position specific groups, they differed in which year they ran more. It is evident that the running metrics of the players varied between each season analysed. This may indicate there is a difference between the seasons because of law variations introduced or amended. The match location and the iv match outcome also increased the external load when these situational variables change to playing at home and winning matches, respectively.
M.Phil. (Sport Sciences)