Training Load Monitoring in Amateur Rugby Union: A Survey of Current Practices

Griffin, A, Kenny, IC, Comyns, TM, and Lyons, M. Training load monitoring in amateur Rugby Union: A survey of current practices. J Strength Cond Res 35(6): 1568-1575, 2021-Amateur Rugby Union has an inherent risk of injury that is associated with detrimental effects on player welfare and team performance. Training load (TL) is a modifiable risk factor that, when monitored, may provide strength and conditioning (S&C) coaches with opportunities to reduce the risk of injury. The purpose of this study was to explore TL monitoring practices used by S&C coaches working with male and female amateur adult Rugby Union teams and their rationale for using such. Thirty-three (n = 31 male and n = 2 female) S&C coaches representing 62% of the total number of male clubs and 71% of female clubs, playing at the highest national amateur level, participated in the study by completing an online survey. Seventy-three percent of respondents stated that they monitor TL. The most common method of recording TL was the session rating of perceived exertion (sRPE), used in 83% of monitoring systems. Thirty-three percent of the S&C coaches surveyed use the sRPE data to calculate the acute:chronic workload ratio (ACWR) for highlighting when players are at risk of injury. This study is the first of its kind to exclusively examine the TL monitoring practices of S&C coaches working with amateur adult Rugby Union teams. Thirteen S&C coaches responded to the open-ended question and 3 higher order themes were highlighted: (a) communication with players (b) support from other staff and (c) limiting factors.