Severity of rugby injuries on rise says Rugby Football Union report

The severity of injuries in rugby union are at an all-time high, according to a report by the Rugby Football Union.

The report also highlights the increase in incidences in concussion in the game.

The authors examined last season's domestic, European and international games and found that concussion remains the most common match injury for the fourth consecutive season.

Concussion accounted for 17 per cent of all match injuries - up four per cent on the 2013-14 season, and the severity of match injuries was the highest reported since 2002.

But the continued focus on improving concussion awareness among players, coaches, referees and medical staff would have contributed to the rise in reported cases.

The average time that a player remained away from rugby after a match concussion was 12 days which remained stable compared to previous seasons.

The tackle remains the most commonly associated with injury, accounting for 36 per cent of all match injuries.

There have been concerns about the use of artificial grass, as used by Saracens at Allianz Park, but the report found that there were no clear differences in incidences or severity of injuries suffered on them.  

However, the risk of training injuries was lower than that seen in the previous two seasons.

The overall likelihood of a player suffering a match or training injury remained stable last season and within the expected range of variation seen since the project began in 2002.

And the figures for the severity of injuries suffered last season will have been skewed by the disproportionate effect of a small increase in a number of relatively uncommon injuries which caused more than 84 days' absence for players.

In particular there were double the number of Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) and Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) injuries to the knee than in 2013-14.   

There was a reduction of recurrent match injuries, continuing the trend seen since 2007-08. This was the result of the continued delivery of effective rehabilitation of injuries by club medical and conditioning teams.

Simon Kemp, RFU Chief Medical Officer said: "While the injury rate has remained relatively stable since the study began in 2002, we can't ignore the recent trend for an increasing mean severity of injury.

"Further research is needed to establish the underlying reasons for this.  

"In terms of concussion, we are continuing to work hard on education, game day management and return to play based on the best medical and scientific evidence we have available to us.

"Our awareness programme has very significantly changed players', coaches' and referees' understanding of the injury and we believe that the principles of recognise and remove, recover and return are being consistently delivered."  

Richard Bryan, the Rugby Director for the Rugby Players' Association, added: "With the increased number of reported concussions and concussion remaining the most common match injury, education and raising awareness are clearly having an effect.

"Nevertheless the game needs to continue with its work of exploring all avenues for concussion prevention measures and we are pleased that the report expressly references this."

The full report can be read on the England rugby website.

The issue will be investigated in a Sky Sports 1 programme, Concussion, the Impact on Sport, from 10pm on Monday.