Position specific peak running demands, and influence of bout type in professional rugby union

Abstract

Objectives:  To quantify peak running intensity in professional rugby union across position groups, and peak running intensity differences between bout types (i.e., whole, starter, substitute).  Design: Longitudinal study.  Method: Global positioning systems were used to assess the activity of 36 professional rugby union players. A moving average approach was used to identify the 1- to 10-minute peak intensity period distances, and time spent above 80% and 90% of individual 1-minute match peak. Differences between position groups and bout type were determined by magnitude-based inferences.  Results: All position groups showed most likely moderate to most likely large differences in peak intensity periods, except for tight 5 vs. backrow (possibly trivial small and possibly small), and half-backs vs. outside backs (very likely trivial small to likely trivial small). No position group comparison for time spent above 80% and 90% of 1-minute match peak resulted in moderate or greater differences. Possibly moderate to most likely moderate difference were observed between forwards whole vs. forward substitutes in 2- to 10-minute peak periods; most likely moderate differences were observed between forwards starters vs. forward substitutes in 10-minute peak intensity period; and most likely moderate differences were observed between backs whole vs. backs substitutes in the 1-minute peak intensity period. For time spent above 80% and 90% of 1-minute match peak all bout type comparisons resulted in most likely moderate to most likely large differences.  Conclusions: There are meaningful differences between position groups in peak running intensity in professional rugby union, and substitute players perform lower peak intensity running than whole or starters.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0320286
Divisions: College of Engineering & Physical Sciences
College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > School of Engineering and Technology
Aston University (General)
Additional Information: Copyright © 2025 Glassbrook et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Uncontrolled Keywords: Adult,Athletes,Athletic Performance/physiology,Football/physiology,Geographic Information Systems,Humans,Longitudinal Studies,Male,Running/physiology,Young Adult
Publication ISSN: 1932-6203
Data Access Statement: All raw data files are available from the York St John University RaYDaR repository, doi: 10.25421/yorksj.27226434
Last Modified: 07 Aug 2025 07:52
Date Deposited: 06 Aug 2025 16:45
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
https://journal ... al.pone.0320286 (Publisher URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2025-04-04
Published Online Date: 2025-04-04
Accepted Date: 2025-02-17
Authors: Glassbrook, Daniel J. (ORCID Profile 0000-0002-3317-8791)
Williams, Lewis D.
McShane, Kevin J.

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License: Creative Commons Attribution


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