Characteristics of Game Aspects due to Differences in the Number of Competitors in Rugby Football: Focusing on 10-a-side Rugby

Takuo Furukawa, Taiki Murakami, Tatsuya Shimasaki and Akira Nakagawa

[Received September 18, 2019; Accepted January 20, 2020] 

The purpose of this study is to clarify the characteristics of the game aspect depending on the number of players in rugby. We studied the world's top-level matches of 7, 10, and 15-a-side rugby games in recent years. The main results were as follows. 1) The greater the number of players, the longer the in-play time and out-of-play time per play, and the less frequent the number of plays. 2) The smaller the number of players, the higher the rate of try scoring, and also the higher the rate of tap-kick selection and the rate of source of tries from tap-kick. 3) The greater the number of players, the greater the number of the origin of tries from the opponent area, and the smaller the number of players, the smaller the number of phase attacks build up to tries. In addition, these results suggested that the 10- a-side players were required a high level of various skills and tactics, since the game has a high frequency of various play activities, including off-load passes, and ball retention and continuation skills in set play and phase play are also important.

Keywords: number of players, game performance, 10-a-side rugby, elite

[Football Science Vol.17, 16-28, 2020]


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