SynthesisSports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)2018
The Incidence of Injury in Amateur Male Rugby Union: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 56 papers, 6 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
56 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Occurrence of Orofacial and Dental Injuries in Rugby: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Clinical and experimental dental research · 2026Pooled it
- Differences in Injury Incidence Between Player Positions Across All Rugby Formats-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports · 2025Pooled it
- The Incidence, Cost, and Burden of Concussion in Women's Rugby League and Rugby Union: A Systematic Review and Pooled Analysis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2022Pooled it
- Injuries in Netball-A Systematic Review.Sports medicine - open · 2021Pooled it
- The Association Between the Acute:Chronic Workload Ratio and Injury and its Application in Team Sports: A Systematic Review.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2020Pooled it
- Match and Training Injuries in Women's Rugby Union: A Systematic Review of Published Studies.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2019Pooled it
- Epidemiology of Match Injuries in Portuguese Senior Male Rugby Union XV: A Prospective Cohort Study.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Article
- Monitoring Match-Related Fatigue in Youth Rugby Players Using a Readiness Index and Clinical Tests.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Head Acceleration Event Magnitude and Incidence Rate in Academy Rugby Union: A Comparison Across Club and International Competition.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Article
- Epidemiology of rugby injuries: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2026Article
- Development of a secure, standardised and interoperable surveillance platform for race-related injury and illness data within the UCI men's and women's road cycling world tour: a study protocol.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2026Article
- Economic burden of sports injury in China: result from a single center of medical quality and safety monitor system.Cost effectiveness and resource allocation : C/E · 2025Article
- Article
- Tackle Height and Tackle Success-An Analysis of 52,204 Tackle Events.European journal of sport science · 2025Article
- Rugby Injury Imaging.Seminars in musculoskeletal radiology · 2025Review
- Injury Epidemiology in Brazilian Rugby Union: Implications for Strength and Conditioning Practice.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Investigation of the intra and inter-day reliability of the athletic shoulder test using the wii balance board in volleyball players.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Injury and Illness Surveillance in Para-Cycling: A Single-Centre One-Season Prospective Longitudinal Study.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- High tackle headache: implications of referee agreement for tackle height law change.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2025Article
- Training load and injury surveillance in Leinster SChoolboy RUgby players: the SCRUm cohort study.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRugby union is a physically demanding, full-contact team sport that has gained worldwide popularity. The incidence of injury in rugby union has been widely reported in the literature. While comprehensive injury surveillance and prevention programmes have been implemented within the professional game, there is a need for similar strategies in the amateur game. Despite recent increases in the volume of research in rugby, there is little consensus regarding the true incidence rate of match and training injuries in senior amateur male rugby union players.
objectiveThe aim of the current review was to systematically review the available evidence on the epidemiology of time-loss injuries in senior amateur male rugby union players and to subsequently conduct a meta-analysis of the findings.
methodsA comprehensive search of the PubMed, Scopus, SportDiscus and Google Scholar electronic databases was performed using the following keywords; ('rugby' OR 'rugby union') AND ('amateur' OR 'community') AND ('injur*' OR 'pain*'). Six articles regarding the incidence of injury in senior amateur male rugby union players, in both matches and training, were retrieved and included in the meta-analysis to determine the overall incidence rate of match injury, with descriptive analyses also provided for other reported variables.
resultsThe overall incidence rate of match injuries within senior amateur rugby union players was 46.8/1000 player hours [95% confidence interval (CI) 34.4-59.2]. Contact events accounted for the majority of injuries, with the tackler more at risk than the player being tackled, and with respective incidence rates of 15.9/1000 player hours (95% CI 12.4-19.5) and 12.2/1000 player hours (95% CI 9.3-15.1).
conclusionThis meta-analysis found that the incidence rate of injury in amateur rugby union players was lower than that in professional players, but higher than the incidences reported in adolescent and youth rugby players. By understanding the true incidence and nature of injuries in rugby, injury prevention strategies can best be implemented. Future prevention strategies may best be aimed towards the tackle area, specifically to the tackler, in order to minimize injury risk.
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