ArticleBMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation2017
A systematic review investigating measurement properties of physiological tests in rugby.
Article in BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 50 citations in OpenAlex.
- What Tests are Used to Assess the Physical Qualities of Male, Adolescent Rugby League Players? A Systematic Review of Testing Protocols and Reported Data Across Adolescent Age Groups.Sports medicine - open · 2023Pooled it
- Testing methods and physical qualities of male age grade rugby union players: A systematic review.PloS one · 2020Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Identifying key performance tests in differentiating starting and substitute women Rugby players: a discriminant function analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Improving of 6 weeks of repeated sprint training on the aerobic and anaerobic power of college-age male rugby players.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Article
- Individual responses to purple grape juice consumption on endurance, explosive power, and fatigue in young male elite soccer players.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
- Differences in playing experience, anthropometry and performance measures between Under 16 schoolboy rugby players classified as starters or non-starters: A comparative cross-sectional study.South African journal of sports medicine · 2025Article
- Reference Values of Physical Performance in Handball Players Aged 13-19 Years: Taking into Account Their Biological Maturity.Clinics and practice · 2024Article
- Optimization of training for professional rugby union players: investigating the impact of different small-sided games models on GPS-derived performance metrics.Frontiers in physiology · 2024Article
- A comparative analysis of physical fitness characteristics and rugby-specific game skills of schoolboy players by playing standards: Implications for talent identification programs in resource-constrained settings.South African journal of sports medicine · 2024Article
- Reliability and validity of 30-15 intermittent fitness test for cardiorespiratory fitness assessment among infantry members of Slovenian armed forces: A study protocol.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Using an Electromyography Method While Measuring Oxygen Uptake to Appreciate Physical Exercise Intensity in Adolescent Cyclists: An Analytical Study.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2021Article
- Short and long-term differences in anthropometric characteristics and physical performance between male rugby players that became professional or remained amateur.Journal of exercise science and fitness · 2021Article
- Poor Motor Coordination Elicits Altered Lower Limb Biomechanics in Young Football (Soccer) Players: Implications for Injury Prevention through Wearable Sensors.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Using Anthropometric Data and Physical Fitness Scores to Predict Selection in a National U19 Rugby Union Team.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Absolute and relative reliability ofSouth African journal of sports medicine · 2021Article
- Isometric Mid-Thigh Pull Performance in Rugby Players: A Systematic Literature Review.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2020Review
- Anthropometric, physiological characteristics and rugby-specific game skills of schoolboy players of different age categories and playing standards.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2020Article
- Coaches' perceptions on qualities defining good adolescent rugby players and are important for player recruitment in talent identification programs: the SCRuM project.BMC research notes · 2019Article
- Anthropometric, physiological characteristics and rugby-specific game skills discriminating Zimbabwean under-16 male adolescent rugby players by level of competition.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThis systematic review was conducted with the first objective aimed at providing an overview of the physiological characteristics commonly evaluated in rugby and the corresponding tests used to measure each construct. Secondly, the measurement properties of all identified tests per physiological construct were evaluated with the ultimate purpose of identifying tests with strongest level of evidence per construct.
methodsThe review was conducted in two stages. In all stages, electronic databases of EBSCOhost, Medline and Scopus were searched for full-text articles. Stage 1 included studies examining physiological characteristics in rugby. Stage 2 included studies evaluating measurement properties of all tests identified in Stage 1 either in rugby or related sports such as Australian Rules football and Soccer. Two independent reviewers screened relevant articles from titles and abstracts for both stages.
resultsSeventy studies met the inclusion criteria for Stage 1. The studies described 63 tests assessing speed (8), agility/change of direction speed (7), upper-body muscular endurance (8), upper-body muscular power (6), upper-body muscular strength (5), anaerobic endurance (4), maximal aerobic power (4), lower-body muscular power (3), prolonged high-intensity intermittent running ability/endurance (5), lower-body muscular strength (5), repeated high-intensity exercise performance (3), repeated-sprint ability (2), repeated-effort ability (1), maximal aerobic speed (1) and abdominal endurance (1). Stage 2 identified 20 studies describing measurement properties of 21 different tests. Only moderate evidence was found for the reliability of the 30-15 Intermittent Fitness. There was limited evidence found for the reliability and/or validity of 5 m, 10 m, 20 m speed tests, 505 test, modified 505 test, L run test, Sergeant Jump test and bench press repetitions-to-fatigue tests. There was no information from high-quality studies on the measurement properties of all the other tests identified in stage 1.
conclusionA number of physiological characteristics are evaluated in rugby. Each physiological construct has multiple tests for measurement. However, there is paucity of information on measurement properties from high-quality studies for the tests. This raises questions about the usefulness and applicability of these tests in rugby and creates a need for high-quality future studies evaluating measurement properties of these physiological tests. TRIAL REGISTRATIONS: PROSPERO CRD 42015029747.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.