Research – What can you do to help?
The RFU is constantly engaged with research into player safety. Independent studies are commissioned and the RFU conducts its own research, collaborating with other sports and rugby unions. The RFU believes it is important to share this information and openly publishes the findings.
Ongoing research is critical to making the game safer as it helps shape training course content on good practice and safe techniques across all levels of the game.
Community Rugby Injury Surveillance and Prevention Project (CRISP)
Run in conjunction with the University of Bath, the CRISP Project collects injury data from across the community game. It has three main strands: Adult Men, Age Grade and Adult Women.
The CRISP project is critical to gaining better understanding and providing data in order to compare and assess trends in injury risk across different playing populations and levels of the game. This allows us to better inform injury prevention strategies, such as law/rule changes, so that the safety of the game is improved for those participating.
In order for the CRISP project to be a success, we always need clubs and teams to get involved.
1. CRISP Information 2024-25 Season
Key information for clubs, schools, colleges and universities interested and/or involved in the CRISP project during the 2024-25 season.
CRISP Key Information: 2023-24 Season
CRISP Youth Roadmap: 2023-24 Season
2. RugbySafe Research Webinars
These are a series of on demand sessions that provide an overview of RFU and rugby research. They include webinars where we go into detail about the CRISP, the Activate programmes and discuss the Age Grade Tackle Height changes and evaluation.
3. Adult Male CRISP
This project is recognised as one of the largest and longest running community level injury surveillance studies in the world. The Adult Men CRISP project collects annual data from approx. 60 teams playing in levels 3-9. Please note that due to COVID-19 and limited rugby activity, no CRISP report was produced for the 2020-21 season.
CRISP Adult Male Findings Overview
4. Age Grade CRISP
This strand of CRISP started in the 2017/18 season and initially collected match exposure and match injuries from schools across England at the under-13, under-15 and under-18 age groups. The project is expanding to include clubs and aims to gain a better understanding of the risk, types and mechanisms of injuries in the age grade game and across different age groups. Please note that due to COVID-19 and limited rugby activity, no CRISP report was produced for the 2020-21 season.
CRISP Male School & College Players Findings Overview
5. Adult Female CRISP
The community adult female CRISP started in the 2021/22 season, with the intention of collecting match exposure and match injuries from women’s teams across the championship and challenge leagues across England. The project will enable a better understanding of the risk, types and mechanisms of injuries in the women’s game.
6. Youth Female Project
This multi-site international project started in the 2022/2023 season with the aim of understanding more about the risk of injury within the youth female game in both the United Kingdom and Canada. By capturing both match and training injury and exposure data, the study aims to understand the rates, locations, types, and mechanisms of injuries. The project also aims to investigate risk factors for injury, return to play following injury, and evidence-informed strategies to reduce injury. Teams involved in the project include academy, school and, club teams
7. Professional Rugby Injury Surveillance and Prevention Project (PRISP)
First commissioned by the RFU and Premiership Rugby in 2002, the PRISP Project is an annual study that monitors injury incidence (how often), injury severity (days absence) and injury burden (incidence x severity) in English Premiership clubs and the England senior team.
The main objectives of PRISP are to accurately report the risk of injury in the professional game and to highlight any patterns or trends over time, allowing for the targeted investigation of specific areas of injury risk and the development of evidence-based strategies to reduce injury risk.
8. Women’s Rugby Injury Surveillance and Prevention Project (WRISP)
This project collects injury data from the Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) – the top level of women’s club rugby in England.
The Women’s Rugby Injury Surveillance Project (WRISP) is pivotal in both providing the baseline data needed to assess trends in injury risk, and in guiding further investigation into injuries that are common, severe, or increasing in incidence.
9. BUCS Injury Surveillance Project (BUCS ISP)
This project collects injury data from the BUCS Super Rugby competition which is the highest level of university rugby in the UK and a potential pathway for university players into elite rugby.
The introduction of this project in the 2017-18 season was seen as an important step in understanding the injury patterns at this level of play. The BUCS Super Rugby competition comprises nine teams and the report provides information on the mean of all teams playing in the league. The methods used in the BUCS Super Rugby injury surveillance project are the same as those used in the Premiership Rugby Injury PRISP and CRISP so that where possible data is comparable.
10. Activate
In collaboration with the University of Bath, the RFU ran two injury prevention studies which at the time were the largest of their kind in the world. One study was carried out in the adult men’s game and the other was a schoolboy study. The findings led to the introduction of the exercise programme, Activate.
The exercises included in the programme are designed to improve functional conditioning and movement control, which contributes to reducing the risk of injury, including concussion.
More detail on the studies and research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in the PDFs.
Also, watch the video that explains the findings of the schoolboy study.
11. Other Research
This is a global network of researchers who are interested in the study of the rugby football codes. The aim is to provide a forum which brings together the expertise of academics and professionals working in the game. By sharing good rugby science practice and discussing future directions, we can enhance the scientific study of the game and work to ensure that rugby science becomes rugby practice where possible.
Other Published Research
The RFU Science & Medical teams are involved in a number of national and international research projects, many of which have been peer reviewed published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine and other reputable academic journals.
