An Ecological Insight Into the Design and Integration of Attacking Principles of Play in Professional Rugby Union: A Case Example

Abstract

This is an exciting era for applied research in high-performance sporting environments. Specifically, there are growing calls for researchers to work with coaches to produce “real-world” case examples that offer first-hand experiences into the application of theory. While ecological dynamics has emerged as a guiding theoretical framework for learning and performance in sport, there is a caveat to its use in the field. Namely, there is a general paucity of applied research that details how expert coaches have brought life to its theoretical contentions in practice. In light of this, the current paper offers a unique insight into how a professional Rugby union organization set out to ground their preparation for competitive performance within an ecological dynamics framework. More directly, this paper details how the Queensland Reds designed and integrated a set of attacking game principles that afforded players with opportunities in practice to search, discover, and exploit their actions. While this paper offers insight specific to Rugby union, its learnings are transferrable to coaches in other sports looking to situate their practice design within an ecological dynamics framework.

Effects of manipulating specific individual constraints on performance outcomes, emotions, and movement phase durations in Rugby Union place kicking

“…Furthermore, these insights highlight the need for future interdisciplinary research to understand key underpinnings of expertise when performing skills (Gobet, 2018). Within applied sport performance and practice settings, Rugby Union clubs can apply the theoretical concepts of ecological dynamics to guide practice designs during training, intended to prepare athletes for competition (McKay et al, 2021). Clubs can use the collaborative expertise of coaches, performance analysts, strength and conditioning trainers, sport psychologists, and skill acquisition specialists in a department of methodology (Rothwell et al, 2020) to understand the influence of key interacting task, environmental and individual constraints on place kicking performance and inform representative practice design.…”

“…Manipulation of key task constraints in practice environments, such as distance between defenders and pitch boundaries, has been suggested to improve decision-making and movement exploration within open play scenarios in Rugby Union (e.g. Correia, Araújo, Duarte, Travassos, Passos, & Davids, 2012;Passos, Araújo, Davids, & Shuttleworth, 2008; McKay, Davids, Robertson, & Woods, 2021). However, to date, no empirical studies have focused on manipulating task, environmental, or individual constraints to study performance of discrete skills in Rugby Union, such as a lineout throw or place kick.…”

Towards a contemporary player learning in development framework for sports practitioners

“…As proposed by Renshaw and Chow 10 and as exemplified by both Woods et al 5 and McKay et al 21 when situated within an ecological dynamics framework, the CLA can help practitioners conceptualize the inherent non-linearity of the learner and the learning process in sport. Specifically, it highlights the nature of the continuous complex and dynamic non-linear interactions between a performer (individual), task, and environment, 4,22 while offering an explanation for the emerging behaviors observed in sport through identifying key, interacting constraints.…”

“Learning by Design”: What Sports Coaches can Learn from Video Game Designs

“…'showing them where to look'), but not so much that the athlete develops an overreliance on their feedback (e.g. 'telling them what to see') [36], hindering their exploratory tendencies during the learning process.…”