engleski

MORPHOLOGICAL MODELS OF TOP-LEVEL RUGBY PLAYERS OF DIFFERENT PLAYING POSITIONS

Rugby Union is an interactive team sport in which the functional - motor skills with desirable psychosocial status of players is extremely important for competitive success . Th e aim in rugby is to achieve points either by scoring try or coming as close to the oposit team posts to eventually kicks (penalty kick or drop kick). To win teritory ball carrier must run to avoid defenders, form maul with his teammates or he must group opponents to create a gap to pass through the defence line. Except technical and tactical knowledge that must be trained to the maximum, anthropometric status of player is very important too. As the player’s speed and force are very important in rugby, it is clear that the body mass has a big eff ect. As body fat does not produce force, the muscle mass must be optimal, player must be as a stronger and faster, and therefore more effi cient . Since 1905th until 1999th rugby players body height increased by 1.0 cm per decade while the body weight increased by 2.6 kg per decade, which is above the secular trend (Olds , 2001). Since fi rst Rugby World Cup back in 1987th to the one played in 2007th, player height and body weight are constantly on the rise. Height of forward players in these 20 years has increased by 0.61 cm while the back players increase was 1.9 cm (Sedeaud et al. , 2012). In the same study (Sedeaud et al. , 2012) there is an interconnection between success at the World Cup and higher values of forward players body weight and back players height. As the players in rugby can be divided into two main groups (forwards and backs) most researchers divided the players into those two groups and only a few researchers are dividing those two groups in two to fi ve smaller groups (Bjelanović et al. , 2012 ; Durandt et al., 2006 ; van Gent and Spamer, 2005). Scrum (forwards) players are: props (No. 1 and 3), Hooker (No. 2), locks (number 4 and 5), back row players ; blindside fl anker (No. 6) and openside fl anker (No. 7) and the number 8 (No. 8). Seven players in line (backs) are: scrum-half (No. 9), fl y-half (No. 10), centers (No. 12 and 13 ), wings (No. 11 and 14) and full-back (No. 15). Because forwards must push in the scrum and lift and jump in the line-out they need to have stronger and bigger body mass and height in relation to the backs who are generally lower and faster at distances from 10 to 40 meters (Duthie et al., 2003). Croatian researcher Bjelanović (2012) mesured Croatian senior rugby players lung function and some anthropological characteristics and tried to fi nd diff erences among the players at the position (backs and forwards). Th e only diff erences he found were in height, weight and body mass index in favor of forwards while in all measured relative spirometric parameters, there were no statistically signifi cant diff erences. Research Fuller et al. (2012), which observed English premiership for 10 years (2002-2012) showed that the players were generally younger and have increased body weight and height. Signifi cant changes have occurred in fl y-half position (bigger body mass and height), props (taller and younger) and back row players (increase body mass). Th e diff erences in weight between the hookers and props were signifi cant ( 89.7 ± 8.1 versus 102.8 kg ± 81 kg ) in study by Querrie et al. (1996). Backs players, scrum-halfs and fl y-halfs (75.0 ± 6.9.kg) had signifi cantly lower body mass 580 Conference Proceedings Luka Bjelanović, Ante Burger, Petra Drušković compared to centers ( 85.9 ± 6.9 kg ) or wings and full-backs (83.4 ± 6.9 kg) ( Quarrie et al . , 1996) . Th e diff erence in height is present between players who play diff erent positions even if we only look at the forward players or only at the backs. So hookers (1.79 ± 0.03 m) are signifi cantly shorter than the locks (1.92 ± 003 m) while scrum-halfs and fl y-halfs (1.73 ± 005 m) are shorter than centers (1.80 ± 0.05 m) or wings and full-backs (1.79 ± 0.05m) (Quarrie et al. , 1996). To play certain positions, apart from required specifi c technical-tactical and functional motor skills, specifi c morphological features are needed. For example, prop that would not have suffi cient physical strength, which is proportional to body mass could not play that position because his legs and torso couldn’t bear all the eff ort of pushing in the scrum. Th at’s why a proper selection of players for the certain position is essential. Th e aim of this study was, based on a sample of the world’s best players, to determine three morphological model players and then determine in which group they belong as the individual players, depending on the playing position in the game. Also, the aim of the research was to determine the relationship between the players belonging to a particular morphological model and to a single playing position

Rugby, anthropology, physical activity

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