Match Demands, Anthropometric Characteristics, and Physical Qualities of Female Rugby Sevens Athletes: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Since the inclusion of rugby sevens in the 2016 Olympic Games, the popularity of women's rugby sevens has grown rapidly worldwide. This systematic review aimed to summarize the scientific literature addressing the match demands, anthropometric characteristics, and physical qualities of female rugby sevens athletes, and to highlight differences between competition levels and playing positions. Four electronic databases were searched, as were the reference lists and key journals. Hedges' g effect sizes with 95% Confidence Intervals were calculated to evaluate differences between Elite and Non-Elite athletes, and backs and forwards. 27 studies met inclusion criteria, and scored 68 ± 13% upon quality assessment. Comparisons between groups were restricted to variables where data was available. Greater running demands and intensities, number of sprints and accelerations, but lower physiological responses characterized International matches compared to Nationals. At International level, backs demonstrated greater running demands and intensities, number of sprints, and physiological responses than forwards. Elite athletes were leaner, taller, and displayed superior physical qualities (e.g., maximal speed, power, upper-body strength, and aerobic capacity) compared to Non-Elite athletes. At Elite level, forwards were heavier and displayed greater upper-body strength, whereas backs showed greater acceleration and maximal speed abilities. The specific match demands and physical requirements of female rugby sevens athletes competing at different playing levels and playing positions must be considered for developing effective training programs.

Eight-season epidemiological study of match injuries in women’s international rugby sevens

“…The main anthropometric characteristics of the players included in this study were that forwards were significantly taller, heavier and older than backs, there was a statistically significant increasing trend in the stature of backs but not for forwards and there were no significant trends in the age or body mass of backs or forwards over the eight seasons. Women's stature and body mass values reported in this study are greater, for both backs and forwards, than those reported previously for elite Rugby-7s players (Sella et al, 2019). As expected, backs and forwards competing in the men's SWS are taller (backs: 180.5 cm; forwards: 187.2 cm) and heavier (backs: 86.8 Kg; forwards: 96.8 Kg) than backs and forwards competing in the women's SWS.…”

“…More injuries were sustained in the second half of women's SWS games compared to the first half, which is a similar situation to that reported for the men's SWS (Fuller et al, 2016): it was postulated that this could be due to player fatigue, as a result of the high work-loads experienced by Rugby-7s players. This suggestion is further supported by reports that reductions in players' running performance during the second half of women's Rugby-7s matches are due to player fatigue (Ball et al, 2019;Clarke et al, 2015;Malone et al, 2020;Sella et al, 2019). While the impact of match and tournament demands on injury has been investigated for men's Rugby-7s (Fuller et al, 2015(Fuller et al, , 2016, there is no equivalent information available specifically for women's Rugby-7s.…”

“…Anthropometric characteristics of players competing in the men's SWS over the period 2008/09 to 2018/19 have been reported as a function of playing position (backs: stature = 180.5 cm, st dev = 6.3, body mass = 86.8 Kg, st dev = 7.6; forwards: stature = 187.2 cm, st dev = 5.3; body mass = 96.8 Kg, st dev = 6.6) . A systematic review of the anthropometric characteristics of international, women's Rugby-7s players (Sella et al, 2019) reported stature and body mass values for players as a function of playing position (backs: stature = 166 cm, body mass = 63.7 Kg; forwards: stature = 167 cm; body mass = 69.9 Kg). These results, however, were based on very small sample sizes (backs: n = 42; forwards: n = 34) so the results are unlikely to be representative of the anthropometric characteristics of players competing in the women's SWS.…”

Physical Preparation in Female Rugby Codes: An Investigation of Current Practices

“…Sportswomen who compete at comparable levels to sportsmen may have less access to sports performance support (e.g., medical and sport science), this may be a result of lower financial investment (International Working Group on Women and Sport WSI, 2007;Fink, 2015). From a performance perspective, marked differences between the sexes can be seen in anthropometric (Quarrie et al, 1995;Brazier et al, 2018;Sella et al, 2019), movement demands (Ball et al, 2019), physical performance (Sella et al, 2019;Owen et al, 2020) and physiological characteristics (Sheel, 2016). Decreased levels of skeletal muscle mass (Abe et al, 2003), lower rates of muscular fatiguability (Hicks et al, 2001), lower maximum velocity, strength and power have all been previously reported (Quarrie et al, 1995;Brazier et al, 2018;Ball et al, 2019) in females.…”

“…Rugby codes (league, union, and sevens) are physiologically demanding intermittent contact sports that involve highintensity movements (e.g., sprinting and tackling) interspersed with low to moderate intensity activities (e.g., jogging) (Read et al, 2018;Whitehead et al, 2018;Ball et al, 2019;Sella et al, 2019;Weaving et al, 2019;Sheppy et al, 2020). Female rugby sevens demonstrates a greater relative distance demand when compared to both female rugby union and league (∼80-120 vs. ∼75 m•min −1 ) (Ball et al, 2019;Emmonds et al, 2020;Sheppy et al, 2020).…”