Concussions in local Rugby on decline according to IRFU and UL report

The Irish Rugby Injury Surveillance research project posted its findings on Tuesday.

TOUGH TACKLE: St Mary's College's Andrew Sparrow is tackled by Gonzaga College's Luke McLaughlin. Pic: Daire Brennan/Sportsfile

Concussions in local Rugby are on the decline according to a report comprised by the Irish Rugby Football Union and University of Limerick.

The IRFU and UL released the sixth year of findings from the Irish Rugby Injury Surveillance (IRIS) research project on Tuesday.

The initiative investigated injury trends in the Men’s and Women’s Energia All-Ireland League during the 2023/24 season and its results have been largely encouraging.

The IRIS project, which is based at UL and is the only long-term injury surveillance system internationally in the women’s community game, is currently being utilised to assess the impact of the tackle height change on the injury profile of community and school players and on stakeholder engagement.

Currently there are five PhD scholars researching various imperative aspects of the community and school game, led by principal investigators Dr. Tom Comyns and Professor Ian Kenny of UL.

The club data were compiled by researcher Kilian Bibby across 508 matches from 23 men’s and women’s All-Ireland League clubs while in the schools’ game, data were compiled by researcher Lauren Guilfoyle across 212 matches from 15 Senior Cup Teams.

A total of 853 male, 145 female players and 481 schoolboy players were registered with the IRIS project for the 2023/24 season.

The reports major findings showed that a male player, on average, would have to play 21 matches to sustain one injury (previously 17 matches) while a female player would have to play 33 matches to sustain one injury and a School Senior Cup player would have to play on average 25 matches to sustain one injury (previously 22).

Importantly, in terms of concussion, it was found that the injury incidence rate for Men was 4.4/1,000 player hours (down from 9.1/1,000), while for women it was 2.0/1,000 player hours (down from 2.5/1,000) although in the School Senior Cup it remained the same as the previous season.

Dr. Rod McLoughlin, the IRFU’s Medical Director, said: "The IRFU are one of the only Unions participating in the World Rugby Global Tackle Height Trial that have the ability to longitudinally compare injury trends before and after the law change, thanks to the continued injury surveillance work carried out by the IRIS Project.

“These data allow us to understand the impact of the law change, alongside video analysis and stakeholder feedback.

“With continued growth in the women’s game, we are pleased to see the development of the IRIS recording system to allow monitoring of female-specific injuries, such as breast injury.

“This work is only possible with the ongoing support of our clubs and schools working with the IRIS Project.

“We thank each club, school, data collector, volunteer, player and researcher for their vital role in the project, which allows us to create evidence-informed impactful player welfare and performance strategies."

The IRIS project has been in existence since 2016 and the partnership between the IRFU and IRIS has been extended to 2030.

It has been said that the yearly reports were “a vital component” of the IRFU’s decision to lower the tackle height and address tackle behaviour in the community and school game.