Here’s a summary of the key findings from the provided text, broken down into sections:
1. The Study & Its Focus:
* Researchers at the University of Edinburgh‘s Moray House school of Education and Sport analyzed 34 Scottish community women’s rugby matches.
* The study aimed too evaluate the impact of lowering the maximum legal tackle height.
* This is part of a larger international project by World Rugby involving 11 countries (Australia,England,France,Ireland,Italy,Japan,New Zealand,Scotland,South Africa,and Wales).
2. Methodology:
* Video footage and injury data from Scottish Rugby were used.
* Data collected included tackle type, body position, contact point, and head contact.
* Points of contact and match events were coded using guidelines developed with world Rugby and the University of cape Town.
3. Key Results - Positive Changes in player Behavior:
* Reduced Contact in the “Red zone”: A 19% reduction in contacts above the sternum.
* Reduced Head Proximity & contact:
* 29% reduction in head-to-head proximity for the tackler.
* 33% reduction in head-to-head proximity for the ball-carrier.
* 48% reduction in head-to-shoulder contact for the ball-carrier.
* No Increase in Knee/Hip Contact: No increase in tackler’s head contacting the ball-carrier’s knee or hip (which is linked to concussion risk).
* Increased Sanctions: A important increase in penalties, advantages, and yellow cards for high tackles (from 3 to 8).
* Decreased Tackles: The number of tackles decreased considerably.
4. Injury Data:
* The rate of concussions and injuries did not change significantly between the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons.
* However,the overall number of reported injuries was low,which researchers acknowledge might affect the meaning of these findings.
5. conclusions & Future Research:
* Lowering the tackle height appears to have led to positive changes in player behavior, reducing head contact and proximity.
* Continued data collection is crucial to fully understand the long-term effects on injury and concussion prevention.
* This study is the first to evaluate the impact of lowered tackle height in community women’s rugby.
* Similar encouraging results were found in a previous study on Scottish men’s community rugby.
* Evaluations are ongoing for youth community rugby in Scotland.
