The A-STEM Research Centre is split in to three research groups. The majority of our rugby research has been performance-focussed and has taken place within our Elite and Professional Sport (EPS) group. We also have staff from our Exercise, Medicine and Health (EMH) and Sport Ethics, Integrity and Governance (SEIG) groups working on health-related, philosophical and ethical projects in rugby.
The staff who are current researchers in rugby or have expressed an interest to apply their research expertise to rugby are listed below:
Dr Neil Bezodis – Biomechanics, kicking, speed and acceleration, technique, injury
Dr Rowan Brown – Data analytics, player/team metrics, machine learning applications
Dr Shane Heffernan – Molecular genetics, elite rugby athlete physiology, muscle physiology, soft tissue injury, concussion
Dr Mark Waldron – Micro-technology and player monitoring, testing and training, applied physiology
Prof. Liam Kilduff – Competition demands, optimising the training process, recovery modalities, competition day preparation
Prof. Camilla Knight – Parenting, social support, psychosocial development
Prof. Kelly Mackintosh – Maturation, skill development, visualisation
Prof. Melitta McNarry – LTAD, maturation, training loads, performance
Prof. Gareth Stratton – LTAD, maturation, adolescent rugby
Dr Elisabeth Williams – Biomechanics, head impact monitoring and neck strength, biomedical engineering, women’s rugby
Dr Andrew Bloodworth – Anti-doping
Dr John William Devine – Philosophy, ethics, leadership, enhancement
Dr Dan Cunningham – Competition demands
Dr Natalie Brown – Women’s rugby, player and coach education
Ms Freja Petrie (current)
Mr David Powell (current)
Ms Georgia Scott, Ospreys Rugby (current)
Mr James Wild, Harlequins FC (current)
Mr Luke Woodhouse, RFU Women (current)
Mr Stuart Yule, Scottish Rugby Union (current)
Dr Luke Cox (completed 2021)
Dr Emily Owen, Ospreys in the Community (completed 2021)
Dr Olivier Rouquette, part RFU (completed 2020)
Dr Chris Pocock (completed 2019)
Dr Alexandra Atack, part RFU (completed 2016)
Dr Nicola Furlan, Rugby Australia Sevens (completed 2016)
Dr Michael Johnston, Ulster Rugby (completed 2015)
Dr Rhys Jones, Scarlets Rugby (completed 2015)
Dr Huw Bevan, Ospreys Rugby (completed 2012)
In addition to the above industrial partners, we also collaborate with academics from many leading domestic and international Universities – examples of many of these are evident in the publications section below.
For full reverse chronological list (on Web of Science) please click here.
Atack, A., Trewartha, G., & Bezodis, N.E. (2019). A joint kinetic analysis of rugby place kicking technique to understand why kickers achieve different performance outcomes. Journal of Biomechanics, 87, 114-119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiomech.2019.02.020
Bennett, M., Bezodis, N. E., Shearer, D. A., & Kilduff, L. P. (2021). Predicting performance at the group-phase and knockout-phase of the 2015 Rugby World Cup. European Journal of Sports Science, 21(3), 312-320. https://doi.org/10.1080/17461391.2020.1743764
Crewther, B. T., Potts, N., Kilduff, L. P., Drawer, S., & Cook, C. J. (2020). Performance indicators during international rugby union matches are influenced by a combination of physiological and contextual variables. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 23(4), 396-402. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2019.10.011
Cunningham, D. J., Shearer, D. A., Drawer, S., Pollard, B., Eager, R., Taylor, N., Cook, C. J., & Kilduff, L. P. (2016). Movement demands of elite under-20s and senior international Rugby Union players. PLoS One, 11(11), e0164990. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0164990
Devine, J. W. (2021). O captain! My captain!: Leadership, virtue, and sport. Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, 48(1), 45-62. https://doi.org/10.1080/00948705.2020.1848435
Gray, A. J., Shorter, K., Cummins, C., Murphy, A., & Waldron, M. (2018). Modelling movement energetics using Global Positioning System (GPS) devices in contact team sports: limitations and solutions. Sports Medicine, 48, 1357-1368. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-018-0899-z
Greybe, D. G., Jones, C. M., Brown, M. R., & Williams, E. M. P. (2020). Comparison of head impact measurements via an instrumented mouthguard and an anthropometric testing device. Sports Engineering, 23, 12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12283-020-00324-z
Hall, E. C. R., Almeida, S. S., Heffernan, S. M., Lockey, S. J., Herbert, A. J., Callus, P., Day, S. H., Pedlar, C. R., Kipps, C., Collins, M., Pitsiladis, Y. P., Bennett, M. A., Kilduff, L. P., Stebbings, G. K., Erskine, R. M., & Williams, A. G. (2021). Genetic polymorphisms related to VO2max adaptation are associated with elite rugby union status and competitive marathon performance. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, in press. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.2020-0856
Heffernan, S. M., Kilduff, L. P., Erskine, R. M., Day, S. H., Stebbings, G. K., Cook, C. J., Raleigh, S. M., Bennett, M. A., Wang, G., Collins, M., Pitsiladis, Y. P., & Williams, A. G. (2017). COL5A1 gene variants previously associated with reduced soft tissue injury risk are associated with elite athlete status in rugby. BMC Genomics, 18(8), 29-37. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-017-4187-3
Heffernan, S. M., Stebbings, G. K., Kilduff, L. P., Erskine, R. M., Day, S. H., Morse, C. I., McPhee, J. S., Cook, C. J., Vance, B., Ribbans, W. J., Raleigh, S. M., Roberts, C., Bennett, M. A., Wang, G., Collins, M., Pitsiladis, Y. P., & Williams, A. G. (2017). Fat mass and obesity associated (FTO) gene influences skeletal muscle phenotypes in non-resistance trained males and elite rugby playing position. BMC genetics, 18(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12863-017-0470-1
Lazarczuk, S. L., Love, T., Cross, M. J., Stokes, K. A., Williams, S., Taylor, A. E., Fuller, C. W., Brooks, J. H. M. Kemp, S. P. T., & Bezodis, N. E. (2020). The epidemiology of kicking injuries in professional Rugby Union: a 15-season prospective study. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine of Medicine and Science in Sports, 30(9), 1739-1747. https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.13737
Pocock, C., Bezodis, N. E., Davids, K., & North, J. S. (2021). Effects of manipulating specific individual constraints on performance outcomes, emotions, and movement phase durations in Rugby Union place kicking. Human Movement Science, 79, 102848. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.humov.2021.102848
Rouquette, O .Y., Knight, C. J., Lovett, V. E., Barrell, D., & Heuzé, J.-P. (2021) The positive association between perceived parental responsiveness and self-esteem, anxiety, and thriving among youth rugby players: A multigroup analysis, Journal of Sports Sciences, 39(13), 1537-1547.https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2021.1883311
Sheppy, E., Hills, S. P., Russell, M., Chambers, R., Cunningham, D.J., Shearer, D., Heffernan, S., Waldron, M., McNarry, M., & Kilduff, L. P. (2020). Assessing the whole-match and worst-case scenario locomotor demands of international women's rugby union match-play. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 23(6), 609-614. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2019.12.016
Waldron, M., Jones, C., Melotti, L., Brown, R., & Kilduff. L. P. (2021). Collision monitoring in elite male rugby union using a new instrumented mouth-guard. The Journal of Sports & Exercise Sciences, 5(3), 179-187. https://doi.org/10.36905/jses.2021.03.03
Williams, E. M. P., Petrie, F. J., Pennington, T. N., Powell, D. R. L., Arora, H., Mackintosh, K. A., & Greybe, D. G. (2021). Sex differences in neck strength and head impact kinematics in university rugby union players. European Journal of Sports Science, in press. https://doi.org/10.1080/17461391.2021.1973573
Winn, C. O. N., Ford, P. R., McNarry, M. A., Lewis, J., & Stratton, G. (2017). The effect of deprivation on the developmental activities of adolescent rugby union players in Wales. Journal of Sports Sciences, 35(24), 2390-2396. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2016.1271136
Woodhouse, L., Tallent, J., Patterson, S., & Waldron, M. (2021). Elite international female rugby union physical match demands: A five-year longitudinal analysis by position and opposition quality. Journal of Science & Medicine in Sports, in press. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2021.03.018
Wright, F., Docherty, P. D., Williams, E. M. P., Greybe, D. G., Hari Arora, H., & Kabaliuk, N. (2021). An in-silico study of the effect of non-linear skin dynamics on skin-mounted accelerometer inference of skull motion. Biomedical Signal Processing and Control, 70, 102986. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bspc.2021.102986
