EFFECT OF FOOT POSITION ON THE COMPRESSION AND LATERAL FORCE PRODUCTION OF A PLAYER IN A RUGBY SCRUM

Abstract

Knowledge of the force production of an individual player with different foot positions, and ultimately of the full pack, will provide coaches and trainers with valuable information in order to improve their team's ability to manipulate the scrum forces and moments as well as making the scrum more stable thereby improving safety. This study aimed to examine the differences in the scrum compression force and lateral force generated by an individual player during the sustained pushing phase of the scrum with parallel and nonparallel foot positions. Nineteen front row rugby players scrummed against an instrumented scrum machine with three different foot positions. The results showed that the parallel foot position produces a higher pushing force than either of the other two nonparallel conditions. It was also shown that the nonparallel conditions produces a greater lateral force than the parallel foot condition with the lateral force being directed towards the side of the front foot..