Smith, Tiaki BrettMacDonald, Chantal2026-09-022026-09-022024Smith, B., & MacDonald, C. (2024, November 20-22). Workload demands during ball-in-play periods: Comparison of locomotive and contact metrics in professional male versus female Rugby Union players [Conference item]. Sport and Exercise Science New Zealand Conference 2024 - The evolution of exercise science: Bridging research and real-world impact, Conference held at University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.https://hdl.handle.net/10289/18611Purpose: Rugby Union is a high collision-based sport demanding the best physical, technical, tactical and decision-making capabilities of players to influence success on the field. Various factors affect the ability for females and males to perform and meet the demands of match-play. This project employed an innovative design that examined and compared contact and locomotion metrics between female and male professional rugby union players during match play. Methods: Data was collected from 60 professional male and female rugby players, from one male and one female professional National Provincial Rugby teams. All participants wore GPS units (Apex Pro Pod, STATSport, Newry, NIR). Each match was filmed and coded using Sportscode video analysis software package (Sportscode 12.4.3, Sportstec, Australia), where contact and GPS metrics were identified throughout the match. GPS and Sportscode data were combined in a bespoke software package. Difference were determined using Welch’s t-test with the level of significance set at P<0.5 and the magnitude of the differences was calculated using Cohen’s d (Hopkins, 2009, 2017). Tests for equality of variances, normality and the examination of outliers was conducted in IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 27). Results: Males locomotive metrics (GPS) and impacts (accelerometer) were typically significantly greater than females showing large to moderate magnitude differences. On the other hand, contacts were often significantly higher for females with small to large magnitude differences. Conclusion: The differences between males and females were likely a combination of genetic differences, differences in how the respective games were played, and the males in this study typically had greater full-time professional training support and resources. Due to these differences, altering female threshold standards for specific intensive locomotion metrics to suit the physical capabilities of females, may give more of an accurate representation of game demands. On the other hand, providing greater resources to female rugby union players for similar periods of time to the males may reduce the differences observed in this study.enThis is a conference presentation from the SESNZ 2024 Conference. © 2024 The author.Conference Contribution