A Comparison of Suspected Injuries, Suspected Concussions, and Match Events in Male and Female Canadian High School 15s and 7s Rugby

Objective:
To compare match event rates and suspected injury and concussion rates between 7-a-side (7s) and 15-a-side (15s) female and male high school rugby union players using video analysis (VA).

Design:
Cross-sectional video analysis study.

Setting:
Alberta high school rugby competitions.

Participants:
Senior high school rugby players (ages 14–18 years) in Calgary, Alberta, participating in the March to June 2022 season.

Assessment of Risk Factors:
Video analysis of high school rugby matches in 7s and 15s.

Main Outcome Measures:
Univariate Poisson regression analyses were used to determine rates of match events, video-identified suspected injuries, and suspected concussions per 1000-player-hours. Incidence rates and incidence rate ratios (IRR) were used to compare between 7s and 15s (15s referent group) and females and males (male referent group).

Results:
Suspected injury rates ranged from 115.0 to 223.6/1000 match hours, while suspected concussion rates ranged from 61.5 to 93.2/1000 hours. The male 7s cohort reported the highest suspected injury and suspected concussion rate, with no significant differences between male or female cohorts across formats. The tackle accounted for 84.6% of all injuries. Despite 30% more tackles in female compared with male 15s, tackle-related injury rates were similar between sexes [IRR = 1.1 (95% CIs: 0.7-1.6)].

Conclusions:
This study did not find any differences in suspected injury or suspected concussion rates between sexes or formats of the game. The proportion of injuries recorded in the tackle and the high reported suspected injury rates does suggest the need for further investigation into tackle proficiency, injury prevention intervention evaluation, and potential law changes.