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  • Comparisons of running and accelerometry based measures between playing positions in touch rugby. A case study of an amateur male team
    Publication . Oliveira, Rafael; Nalha, Matilde
    Background: The main objective of the present study was to quantify the external load of the games that belong to a national tournament by comparing playing positions. A secondary objective consisted in comparing the match-to-match variations. Methods: Fourteen players (four links, four middles and six wings) were included (age: 39.36 ±5.83 years; body mass index: 26.65 ± 4.13). Participants were monitored during a tournament. ThroughGpexepro2, thefollowingmeasureswerecollectedandrelativized per minute: total distance, forward distance, backward distance, zone 1 (0–1.50 m/s), zone 2 (1.50–3.00 m/s), zone 3 (3.00–4.00 m/s), zone 4 (4.00–5.50 m/s), zone 5 (5.50 7.00 m/s)andzone6(>7.00m/s),thenumberofaccelerationsanddecelerations, impacts and jumps. The absolute values of maximal speed, maximal acceleration speed and maximal deceleration speed were also used for analysis. Results: The main findings showed meaningful higher values of zone 4 (16.18 ± 1.89 vs. 5.56 ± 3.53), zone 5 (2.91 ± 0.81 vs. 0.38 ± 0.38), zone 6 (0.35 ± 0.24 vs. 0.00 ± 0.00), deceleration (0.56 ± 0.21 vs. 0.19 ± 0.12), maximal speed (23.56 ± 1.90 vs. 18.84 ± 1.24) and forward distance (102.20 ± 13.45 vs. 67.42 ± 17.40) for middles than wings (p < 0.05), with large to very large effect sizes. In addition, no differences were found when comparing external load data from all matches. Conclusions: The findings of this study showed a clear tendency of higher values for middles than links and wings which provides a deeper understanding of the positional activity profile of an Amateur Portuguese team allowing practitioners to adjust training with the common external load experienced in a tournament. Moreover, the analysis of match-to-match comparison revealed no differences through the competition day, which means a proper fatigue management.
    2025Research article Open access Show more