'There are more freak athletes in rugby than ever before...it's exciting' - how rugby is leading sports science revolution
Rugby Union is now leading the world when he comes to utilising sports science – that’s according to Kevin McLaughlin of industry innovators Kitman Labs.
RugbyPass caught up with the former Leinster and Ireland backrow at Kitman Labs this week, where he talked about the advances sports science has made, his career and injuries at Leinster and what it’s been like watching Ireland and Leinster dominate the Northern Hemisphere this season.
Kitman Labs has been a major success story. With bases in Dublin and Palo Alto in California, the company have fast become one of the sports science industry’s leading lights.
Many of the biggest names in rugby union are now relying on their expertise: IRFU, SARU, the Hurricanes, Bath Rugby, Union Bordeaux Begles, the Sharks and Toyota Verblitz among others.
They now boast clients across a range of elite sports on five continents. Outside of rugby union their clients have included such luminary organisations as the Buffalo Bills, the UFC, Cleveland Browns, Everton, Celtic, Rangers, LA Galaxy, NY Yankees and not least the AFL and NRL in Australia.
Their purpose as an organisation? Reducing injuries and maximising performances, and their results have been stark: a North American football team and client reduced their injury rate by 70 percent while an NFL franchise’s injuries dropped by a massive 50 percent last year – also using Kitman Labs data.
The Dubliner retired from professional rugby in 2015 at the age of thirty – due to concussion – but struggled throughout his career with injuries.
McLaughlin, who had just returned from giving a talk to two Bundesliga sides in Germany, told RugbyPass: “Over a ten-year spell at Leinster I probably spent close to five years on the sideline. I had multiple operations…a lot of teething problems as I was coming into my career, and my career was really delayed due to injury.”
McLaughlin believes recognising that players are individuals is key to understanding sports science data.
“Myself and Jamies Heaslip played in the backrow together for five or six years, and he and I would have done similar stats in some games. We would have both have made 12 tackles, 15 carries, hit a load of rucks, been involved in roughly the same number of mauls, all that kind of stuff, so typically you would say me and him come into training on Monday and we both react the same.
“We couldn’t have been more different. I was someone who dealt with a lot of doms, and pain and needed time to recover from fatigue from the game, a slightly slower recovery mechanism, whereas Jamie would bounce into training on a Monday. For me to do the same programme as him on a Monday made no sense.”
Increasingly in modern rugby, not unlike the NFL, a lot of weight is put into athletic performance off the pitch, be it speed and power metrics or weights lifted in the gym. McLaughlin points out that some of the game’s best players are guys who don’t lift huge weights and don’t always train well.
“You’ve still got guys like Sean O’Brien who looks like an absolute beast when he’s out on the pitch. He’d be the first person to admit that in the gym he’s probably in the bottom 20 to 30 percent when it comes to backrowers. That does not come across when he’s on the field.”
He cites both Scott Fardy and Rocky Elsom as two players who fit a similar mould, players who play much better than they train.
“That’s what makes rugby such an amazing sport. It’s what you do on the field. It’s your mental toughness. It’s your smarts in pressure situations that really make you the player you are.
“What we try to do is add on a layer of objectivity, so the data can actually be used to make the best possible decisions for the athletes.”
Teams that use a sports science system like Kitman Labs have the benefit of concise data, and extracting meaningful data is fundamental to the system.
“There is so much data on guys that the coaches are aware of the data they need. But from a player’s point of view, I would say to my younger self ‘Be more proactive. Take criticism. Get feedback and use it in a positive manner.”
McLaughlin says the next step in player data is identifying the best selection based off what opposition lie in front of your, an area Premiership football teams are starting to look at.
“So what are the profiles of the players going to look like to allow them to win a game like that and how do they need to train the athletes that week in the lead up to that game in order to optimise performance around specific KPI (Key Performance Indicators) that will allow them to beat that opposition.”
That will evitably lead to statistically targeting teams and players within teams with players best suited to getting a result.
“That’s the direction we’re going down. So they can not only prepare their athletes for what they already know are their KPIs but also exposing weaknesses of the opposition they’re playing against.”
It’s a brave new world, but one in which rugby is – in fact – leading the way.
“Sports science in the US, for some of the big franchises, is just not that important. Teams like Leinster and Ireland are at the cutting edge of what they do, and they get the most out of their athletes. They try to apply a scientific approach to back up the gut of a Lancaster or a Leo Cullen,” says McLaughlin. “It allows the Irish teams to punch above their weight.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Thanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
4 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
4 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
13 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
13 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
4 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
13 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
13 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
13 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
13 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
13 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
45 Go to comments