Relationship Between Physical Qualities and Minutes Played in International Women's Rugby Sevens

Purpose: To investigate the physical qualities that differentiate playing minutes in international-level women's rugby sevens players. Methods: Twenty-four national-level female rugby sevens players underwent measurements of anthropometry, acceleration, speed, lower- and upper-body strength, lower-body power, and aerobic fitness. Playing minutes in international competition were used to differentiate players into 2 groups, a high- or low-playing-minutes group. Playing minutes were related to team selection, which was determined by the coaching staff. Playing minutes were therefore used to differentiate performance levels. Results: Players in the high-playing-minutes group (>= 70 min) were older (mean +/- SD 24.3 +/- 3.1 vs 21.2 +/- 4.3 y, P=.05, effect size [ES] = 0.77 +/- 0.66, 90% confidence limit) and had greater experience in a national-training-center environment (2.4 +/- 0.8 vs 1.7 +/- 0.9 y, P=.03, ES = 0.83 +/- 0.65), faster 1600-m time (374.5 +/- 20.4 vs 393.5 +/- 29.8 s, P=.09, ES = -0.70 +/- 0.68), and greater 1-repetition-maximum upper-body strength (bench press 68.4 +/- 6.3 vs 62.2 +/- 8.1 kg, P=.07, ES = 0.80 +/- 0.70, and neutral-grip pull-up 84.0 +/- 8.2 vs 79.1 +/- 5.4 kg, P=.12, ES = 0.68 +/- 0.72) than athletes who played fewer minutes. Age (r(s) = .59 +/-similar to.28), training experience (r(s) = .57 +/-similar to.29), bench press (r = .44 +/-similar to.36), and 1600-m time (r = -.43 +/-similar to.34) were significantly associated with playing minutes. Neutral-grip pull-up and bench press contributed significantly to a discriminant analysis. The average squared canonical correlation was .46. The discriminant analysis predicted 7 of 9 and 6 of 10 high- and low-playing-minutes athletes, respectively. Conclusions: Age, training experience, upper-body strength, and aerobic fitness differentiated athlete playing minutes in international women's rugby sevens.