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Player Welfare Guidelines

World Rugby Player Welfare Guidelines

Medical and non-medical guidelines that outline best practice in player welfare.

Use the menu to navigate through World Rugby's medical and non-medical guidelines outlining best practice in player welfare.

World Rugby take the following steps with developing player welfare guidelines:

  1. Identify welfare risks to players.
  2. Investigate ways to reduce these risks.
  3. Develop and approve best practice.
  4. Share best practice guidelines.

Best practice guidelines cover numerous medical and non-medical topics, which World Rugby continue to review, update, and expand when new knowledge comes to light.

Guidelines are available to help Unions share best practice with stakeholders, and Unions may adapt the advice in the guidelines to meet their needs.

Player Welfare News
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Player Welfare

World Rugby Player Welfare Symposium hears how new data could form the basis of updated contact training load guidelines

World Rugby’s 2023 Player Welfare Symposium has heard how the international federation is planning on using new data to start to re-examine rugby’s contact training load guidelines. A World Rugby funded study involving elite players in England, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa using both smart mouthguards and saliva biomarker technology is being used for the first time to look closely at forces on the head which do not directly lead to concussions.
Read now on World Rugby
Wed 24 May, 2023
· 2 min read
Australia v New Zealand - O'Reilly Cup

Player Welfare

Rugby World Cup 2021 to set new benchmark for player welfare

Rugby World Cup 2021 will kick off this week, with the best rugby players in the world, supported by the most advanced player welfare standards ever delivered at a rugby event.  Player welfare is World Rugby’s number one priority and the international federation is using the tournament to help improve the level of rugby specific, academic research on head impacts in the women.
Read now on RWC 2021
Thu 6 October, 2022
· 2 min read
PLAYER WELFARE NEWS
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Tue 21 June, 2022
Return to play after a concussion in elite rugby