title: Rugby World Cup 2015: World Rugby injury surveillance study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the incidence, severity and nature of injuries sustained during the Rugby World Cup (RWC) 2015 together with the inciting events leading to the injuries.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective, whole population study.
  
  
  METHODS
  639 international rugby players representing 20 countries.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study protocol followed the definitions and procedures recommended in the consensus statement for epidemiological studies in rugby union; output measures included players' age (years), stature (cm), body mass (kg) and playing position, and the group-level incidence (injuries/1000 player-hours), mean and median severity (days-absence), location (%), type (%) and inciting event (%) for match and training injuries.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Incidence of injury was 90.1 match injuries/1000 player-match-hours (backs: 100.4; forwards: 81.1) and 1.0 training injuries/1000 player-training-hours (backs: 0.9; forwards: 1.2). The mean severity of injuries was 29.8 days-absence (backs: 30.4; forwards: 29.1) during matches and 14.4 days-absence (backs: 6.3; forwards: 19.8) during training. During matches, head/face (22.0%), knee (16.2%), muscle-strain (23.1%) and ligament-sprain (23.1%) and, during training, lower limb (80.0%) and muscle-strain (60.0%) injuries were the most common locations and types of injury. Being-tackled (24.7%) was the most common inciting event for injury during matches and rugby-skills-contact activities (70.0%) the most common during training.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While the incidence, nature and inciting events associated with match injuries at RWC 2015 were similar to those reported previously for RWCs 2007 and 2011, there were increasing trends in the mean severity and total days-absence through injury.
authors.affiliation: World Rugby, World Rugby House, Dublin 2, Ireland.|Colin Fuller Consultancy Ltd, Sutton Bonington, UK.
authors.forename: Colin W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Fuller
authors.affiliation: World Rugby, World Rugby House, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Aileen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.affiliation: Rugby Football Union, London, UK.
authors.forename: Simon P T
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Kemp
authors.affiliation: World Rugby, World Rugby House, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Raftery
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000453:epidemiology; D005538:Football / Q000293:injuries*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007718:Knee Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology; D008022:Ligaments / Q000293:injuries; D035002:Lower Extremity / Q000293:injuries; D008297:Male; D013180:Sprains and Strains / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cohort study; Contact sports; Epidemiology; Rugby; Surveillance