The immediate and sustained impact of recent law changes regarding the ruck in women’s rugby union.

Hobbs, S. L. (2019) The immediate and sustained impact of recent law changes regarding the ruck in women’s rugby union. Masters theses, University of Chichester.

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Abstract

Within rugby union, the ruck and tackle are key components (Hendricks, Roode, Matthews & Lambert, 2014). Recently, three rule changes occurred regarding these areas. Rules are continually evolving in sport (Tromp & Holmes, 2011), yet its impacts have rarely been evaluated (Van den Berg & Malan, 2012), despite the association between law modification and performance change (O’Donoghue, 2010). Therefore, the study aimed to investigate the immediate and sustained impact of the recent law changes on pre-, during- and post-ruck play. In this study, 33 women’s Six Nations games were analysed, played by England, France and Scotland, during the 2017, 2018 and 2019 tournaments. The study found that, for pre-ruck, there was a sustained preference of double tackles, with a significant association found for all teams and overall, and a greater sustained preference of tackling around the ball carrier’s torso after the law change, with a significant association found for France, Scotland and overall. For during-ruck there was a significant association found for all teams and overall in the number of defenders and attackers in rucks post-law change, with both having a sustained decrease after 2017. However, no significant association was found for ruck’s outcome. Finally, for post-ruck, there was a sustained increase in the ruck frequency for France, Scotland and overall and a non-significant increase in the occurrence of eight or more phases occurring post-law change. It was concluded that the recent law changes impacted the defensive and attacking strategies, rucking frequency and the continuity of the game.

Publication Type: Theses (Masters)
Additional Information: MSc Sports Coaching Science
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure > GV557 Sports
G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure > GV557 Sports > GV711 Coaching
Q Science > Q Science (General)
Divisions: Academic Areas > Institute of Sport > Area > Exercise Physiology
Student Research > Masters
Depositing User: Ann Jones
Date Deposited: 24 Nov 2020 09:14
Last Modified: 24 Nov 2020 09:14
URI: https://eprints.chi.ac.uk/id/eprint/5496

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