Player injury

Abstract

Rugby union is a gladiatorial-type sport where high-impact collisions, vigorous scrummaging, mauling, jumping, running, evading, and sprinting are all required and can result in player injury. The New Zealand Accident Compensation Commission (ACC) is a government department responsible for among other things, recording the number and cost of sport accidents (injuries) in New Zealand (https://www.acc.co.nz). While the number of newly registered rugby injuries in New Zealand have decreased lately (63875 in 2019, 45082 in 2020, 52277 in 2021), rugby remains the sport with the highest injury numbers overall, particularly for men. High injury numbers are also found in rugby players in other countries.