title: Kinanthropometry of Group I rugby players in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
abstract: The large variability in size and structure between playing positions in rugby merits specific kinanthropometric profiling. We aim to report detailed descriptive anthropometric data of a sample of 133 rugby players stratified by field positions (age 24.3 +/- 3.6 years, body mass 89.5 +/- 13.2 kg, and stature 178.8 +/- 7.3 cm) belonging to seven Group I teams competing in the Buenos Aires Rugby Union, and to find out if front row forwards (FR) have larger muscle and skeletal parameters. Body composition was analysed with the five-way fractionation method, expressing tissue masses in absolute terms, relative to weight as percentages and to stature as phantom z-scores. Furthermore, somatotype, body mass index, sum of six skinfolds, and muscle-to-bone ratio were calculated. Players were subsequently grouped into three positional clusters and muscular-skeletal elements compared, showing FR to have larger proportional muscle and skeletal structure than remaining forwards and backs (P < 0.001), albeit a similar muscle-to-bone ratio (P = 0.060). When compared to a sample of the top six teams at the 2003 Rugby World Cup, the Buenos Aires players were considerably smaller, measuring, on average, 3-11 cm less in height and 6-13 kg less in weight.
authors.affiliation: Club Atlético River Plate, Medicina, Departamento de Medicina Aplicada a los Deportes, Avenida Figueroa Alcorta, Buenos Aires, Argentina. fholway@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Francis Edward
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Holway
authors.forename: Romina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Garavaglia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001823:Body Composition; D005538:Football / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013008:Somatotypes; D055815:Young Adult