Media release

From: The BMJ

Older schoolboy rugby players more likely to be injured  than their younger peers

The number of injuries sustained while playing rugby, and match and training days lost as a result, is higher among under 18s than it is among under 13s and under 15s, reveals a study of 66 schoolboy teams from 35 secondary schools in England, published in the open access journal BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine.

The tackle was the most frequent source of injury, and concussions the most common injury type in all age groups and across all 3 seasons: 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20 (September-April).

The under 18s sustained nearly 35 injuries and lost 941 match/training days for every 1000 hours of play. The equivalent figures for the under 13s were 21 injuries and 477 lost days, while those for the under 15s were nearly 25 injuries and 602 lost days.

Contact incidents accounted for most (87%) of the known injuries, with the tackle responsible for around half among the under 13s (52%) and the under 15s (48%), compared with 62% among the under 18s.

Concussion was the most common injury type across all age groups: 5 /1000 hours among the under 13s; 6.5 among the under 15s; and just over 9 among the under 18s.

“It is possible that, as players mature, increases in mass, strength and speed produce greater forces within contact events, which may also be increasing in frequency with age. It is also possible that players are playing to a higher standard as they get older,” explain the researchers.

“The findings indicate that the focus of injury prevention strategies should be on concussion and the tackle,” they conclude.