Eddie Jones' damning England camp injuries statistics - report
Eddie Jones’s controversially tough England training sessions meant players were five times more likely to sustain injuries on international duty than with their clubs last season.
Concerns over the burden put on the England players were raised by club chiefs following a run of injuries with Bath owner Bruce Craig labelling a serious leg injury to prop Ben Obano with the national squad as “totally unacceptable.” Bath also saw Sam Underhill and Zach Mercer hurt with England.
The annual Professional Rugby Injury Surveillance Project (PRISP) report produced by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), Premiership Rugby (PRL) and the Rugby Players’ Association (RPA), reveals that “during the 2017-18 season, the mean incidence of England training injuries sustained during Rugby Skills was double that of the study period average. As a consequence the burden of England training injuries during Rugby Skills (579 days absence per 1000 hrs) rose to more than five times the study mean (96 days absence per 1000 hrs). The average severity of 30 days was a substantial increase on the mean of the study period as a whole (19 days).”
Nigel Melville, the acting RFU chief executive, admitted the issue was being addressed and said: “We did recognise a problem and working with coaches, clubs and strength and conditioning experts has improved the situation. We have discussed this and we have looked at the transition of players from their club environment to the England sessions which are of greater intensity. We are trying to manage them and there are positive signs.”
Away from Jones’s training sessions, Simon Kemp, RFU Medical Services Director believes the sport needs to make “ more significant changes” to protect players from serious injury as the latest report on the professional game in England reveals concussion remains a major problem.
For the seventh consecutive season, the most commonly reported match injury was concussion, accounting for 20% of all injuries in the top flight of English rugby. This comes in the wake of news that French rugby has witnessed their fourth fatality in eight months. Nathan Soyeux, a 23-year-old student, is the latest causality as he passed away in Dijon after he was admitted in the hospital showing adverse reactions following a tackle during game for engineering schools.
The French rugby federation has announced to plan a forum alongside World Rugby in March to discuss the laws of the game related to player’s heath.
Lowering the height of the tackle and taking action against players who make contact with the head is currently a major focus for the sport but any effect of changes to this area of the game will only be seen in next year’s report. The data is for last season in England’s top flight of the sport which is released today and shows that the average severity of match injuries (the time taken to return to play) for the 2017-18 season was 37 days. This is the second consecutive season the figure has risen above the expected upper limit of season-to-season variation.
Addressing the issues raised by the latest PRISP report, Kemp said: “You are three times more likely to get a yellow card for a deliberate knock on than a high tackle around the world. Concussion remains a priority for us all and we are now looking at concussion prevention with the trial of a reduced tackle height in the 2018/19 Championship Cup. It is critical that all stakeholders – medics, coaches, officials and players – work together on possible solutions.
“There is strong evidence that while the likelihood of injury in the professional game appears to be stable, the increase in injury severity that we are seeing means that the overall burden of injury is increasing. The PRISP data suggests that more significant changes to the game might be needed to reverse these trends.”
First commissioned in 2002, the PRISP report presents last season’s data and compares them with the previous 14 seasons in professional rugby to provide the baseline data needed to assess trends in injuries.
Worryingly, 2017-18 is the first season that the incidence of all injuries was greater for the tackler than the ball carrier while 38% of all injuries were sustained during training. There was a significant increase in the incidence of injuries sustained in rugby skills contact training and non-weights conditioning sessions. Concussion was the most common injury in full contact training sessions with concussion and hamstring injuries being the most common injuries in semi-contact sessions.
More investigation into the impact artificial grass pitches are having on the sport in England is planned with the report revealing that while there was no significant difference compared to natural grass: “The severity of match injuries on artificial turf is greater than that on natural grass, with an injury sustained on artificial turf lasting, on average, nine days more than one sustained on natural grass (natural grass, 30 days; artificial turf, 39 days). Consequently, the burden of injuries on artificial turf pitches is higher than those on natural grass.”
The key data includes:
Concussion
The most commonly reported match injury was concussion, contributing 20% of all match injuries.
The mean severity of medically diagnosed match concussions in 2017-18 was 19 days. This rise in mean severity, first seen last year, is largely due to a relatively small number of concussions (six) where the time to return was more than 84 days compared with previous seasons.
For the third consecutive year concussion is both the most common and highest burden match injury, followed by hamstring muscle injuries.
Compliance with the mandatory return to play protocols for concussion was again excellent, with no players returning to play in less than six days.
Tackling52% of all match injuries are associated with the tackle, with 28% of all injuries associated with tackling and 24% associated with being tackled.
2017-18 is the first season that the incidence of all injuries was greater for the tackler than the ball carrier.
Concussion accounted for 18% of all injuries to the ball carrier and 37% of all injuries to the tackler, highlighting the tackle as the key game event to consider when developing concussion and all injury reduction strategies.
Comments on RugbyPass
Did footballs agents also perform the scout role at some time? I’m surprised more high profile players haven’t taken up the occupation, great way to remain in the game and use all that experience without really requiring a lot of specific expertise?
1 Go to commentsSuper rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
10 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
9 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
10 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
22 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
9 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
34 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
34 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
14 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
5 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
6 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
22 Go to commentsJake White is a brilliant coach and a master in the press. This is another masterclass in media relations and PR but its also a very narrow view with arguments that dont always hold water. White wants his team to win, he wants the best players in SA and wants his team competitive. You however have to face up to the reality of a poor exchange rate and big clubs with big budgets. SA Rugby cant compete and unless it can find more money SA players will keep leaving regardless of Springbok eligibility and this happened in 2015 - 2017. Also rugby is not cricket. Cricket has 3 formats and T20 cricket is where the money is at. When it comes to club vs country the IPL is king but that wont happen because the international calendar does not clash with the club calendar in rugby. So the argument about rugby going down the same path as cricket is really a non-starter
22 Go to comments