Introduction

The HSBC Sevens World Series 2010/2011 involved 8 Tournaments over the period 4 December 2010 to 28 May 2011. This report summarises the key results obtained for the 12 core teams taking part in all 8 Tournaments and for 2 teams taking part in 5 of the Tournaments.

The study was conducted in accordance with the IRB approved consensus statement on definitions and procedures for injury surveillance studies in rugby union.

Summary of results

98 match injuries (Backs: 61; Forwards: 37) were reported by the 14 teams during 965.8 player-match-hours (Backs: 551.9; Forwards: 413.9).

Incidence of injury:

101.5 injuries/1000 player-hours (Backs: 110.5; Forwards: 89.4); 0.18 injuries/team-match.
[2008/2009 – Incidence: 106.2 injuries/1000 player-match-hours; 0.18 injuries/team-match]

Severity of injury:

Mean - 34.1 days (Backs: 31.8; Forwards: 37.8); Median – 26 days (Backs: 26; Forwards: 31).
[2008/2009 – Mean: 45.0 days; Median: 24 days]

There were no statistically significant differences (p<0.05) in the incidence, severity, location, type or cause of injury for forwards or backs in the 2010/11 Rugby Sevens Series compared with the results reported for the 2008/09 Series. Knee ligament injuries and hamstring injuries remained the most common injuries. There were fewer ACL injuries in 2010/2011 compared to 2008/2009, which resulted in a (non-significant) reduction in the mean severity of injury.

Conclusions:

The results obtained from the 2010/2011 HSBC Sevens World Series are in close agreement with the results obtained from the 2008/2009 Sevens Series. The intention is that the results obtained during the 2010/2011 HSBC Sevens World Series will be combined with the results collected during the HSBC Sevens World Series in 2011/12 to provide a statistically more powerful study and to enable a more detailed analysis of the risks of injury in Rugby Sevens to be published.