This study explored the physical and fitness characteristics of elite professional rugby union players and examined the relationships between these characteristics within forwards and backs. Thirty-nine elite professional rugby union players from the New Zealand Super Rugby Championship participated in this study. Body composition was measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry alongside anthropometrics. Fitness characteristics included various strength, power, speed, and aerobic fitness measures. Forwards were significantly (p ≤ 0.01) taller and heavier than backs, and possessed greater lean mass, fat mass, fat percentage, bone mass, and skinfolds. Forwards demonstrated greater strength and absolute power measures than backs (p = 0.02), but were slower and possessed less aerobic fitness (p ≤ 0.01). Skinfolds demonstrated very large correlations with relative power (r = −0.84) and speed (r = 0.75) measures within forwards, while backs demonstrated large correlations between skinfolds and aerobic fitness (r = −0.54). Fat mass and fat percentage demonstrated very large correlations with speed (r = 0.71) and aerobic fitness (r = −0.70) measures within forwards. Skinfolds, fat mass, and fat percentage relate strongly to key fitness characteristics required for elite professional rugby union performance. Individual and positional monitoring is important due to the clear differences between positions.

This study explored the anthropometric and body composition characteristics of elite female rugby union players, comparing between and within different playing positions. Thirty elite female rugby union players (25.6 ± 4.3 y, 171.3 ± 7.7 cm, 83.5 ± 13.9 kg) from New Zealand participated in this study. Physical characteristics were assessed using anthropometric (height, body mass, skinfolds) and body composition (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) measures. Forwards were significantly taller (p < 0.01; d = 1.34), heavier (p < 0.01; d = 2.19), and possessed greater skinfolds (p < 0.01; d = 1.02) than backs. Forwards also possessed significantly greater total (p < 0.01; d = 1.83–2.25) and regional (p < 0.01; d = 1.50–2.50) body composition measures compared to backs. Healthy bone mineral density values were observed in both forwards and backs, with significantly greater values observed at the arm (p < 0.01; d = 0.92) and femoral neck (p = 0.04; d = 0.77) sites for forwards. Tight-five players were significantly heavier (p = 0.02; d = 1.41) and possessed significantly greater skinfolds (p < 0.01; d = 0.97) than loose-forwards. Tight-five also possessed significantly greater total body composition measures (p < 0.05; d = 0.97–1.77) and significantly greater trunk lean mass (p = 0.04; d = 1.14), trunk fat mass (p < 0.01; d = 1.84), and arm fat mass (p = 0.02; d = 1.35) compared to loose-forwards. Specific programming and monitoring for forwards and backs, particularly within forward positional groups, appear important due to such physical characteristic differences.

Strength and sprint training exercises are integral part of training in many younger endurance cyclists to improve cycling efficiency and sprinting ability. This study was undertaken to examine whether muscle and performance characteristics could be improved in endurance-trained masters cyclist by adding strength and sprint training stimuli into their training regimen. Twenty five masters road cyclists were assigned to a combined strength and sprint training group (CT; n=9, 53.5 ± 9.3 years), a sprint training group (ST, n=7, 49.4 ± 4.8 years) or a control group (CG, n=9, 56.9 ± 8.6 years). Before and after the 12 week intervention, whole body lean mass (WBLM), total lower limb lean mass (LLLM), countermovement jump height (CMJ), peak isometric torque of quadriceps (QPT) and hamstring (HPT) muscles were examined. For evaluation of sport-specific performance, 10 second sprint cycling peak power (PP10), total 30 second work (TW), peak power output (PPO) and flying 200 meter time trial performance (TT) were assessed. No pre-training differences were observed between CT, ST and CG groups for any of the dependant variables. After training, a significant (p<0.05) between group difference was observed in TW between CT and CG groups. A significant effect of time (p<0.05) was observed for LLLM in CT and ST groups, and for TT in the CT group. These results suggest including strength and sprint exercises in training can increase lower limb lean mass and sprint performance in endurance trained masters road cyclists. Further research is warranted to find out an ideal pattern of training to maintain aerobic capabilities along with sprint performance in aging road cyclists.