World Rugby injury surveillance study at RWC 2019

[L'irlandais]

It will be interesting to see if recent Law changes actually reduce the number of concussions over the 7 weeks of RWC 2019. Objective To determine the incidence, severity and nature of injuries sustained during the Rugby World Cup (RWC) together with the inciting events leading to the injuries.
[LAWS]Statistics from 2015: Population 639 international rugby players representing 20 countries.[/LAWS]

As a consequence of their match injuries, 34.1% of players (backs: 29.5%; forwards: 39.2%) were removed from play immediately, 25.7% (backs: 31.8%; forwards: 19.0%) were removed later in the game and 40.1% (backs: 38.6%; forwards: 41.8%) remained on the pitch until the end of the game. Of the 24 concussions reported, 18 players were removed from play immediately and subsequently confirmed to be concussed, the remaining 6 players presented with symptoms and signs of concussion postgame.

Of the 20 training injuries, 1 was sustained to the head/neck, 1 to the upper limb, 2 to the trunk and 16 to the lower limbs; 1 of the training injuries was a concussion (which was identified during the session and the player was removed immediately), 6 were joint (non-bone)/ligament injuries, 12 were muscle/tendon injuries and 1 was a skin injury. More detailed analysis of the nature of these training injuries was not undertaken due to the relatively small number of training injuries reported.

Source: British Journal of Sports Medicine

What are the findings?
The overall incidence of injury at RWC 2015 was similar to that at RWC 2007 and RWC 2011, but the incidence of injury for backs was 25% higher than for forwards.

The severity of injuries sustained by forwards and backs has increased from RWC 2007 through RWC 2011 to RWC 2015.

The number of concussion and knee ligament injuries reported at RWC 2015 increased compared to RWC 2007 and RWC 2011.