Fifteen minutes of fame: Wallabies coach Dave Rennie seeks clarity as World Rugby caps contact training

World Rugby is poised to implement new training framework after new research showed 35 to 40 per cent of injuries occurred during training.

The guidelines include a 40-minute cap on controlled contact - in which players use tackle pads or hit shields - and a 30-minute cap on live set piece training.

The guidelines are not mandatory but may yet be written into the terms of participation for future World Cups, according to World Rugby director of technical services Mark Harrington.

World Rugby's guidance suggests while the incidence of training injuries is low relative to that of matches, the volume of training performed means that a relatively high proportion [35 to 40 per cent] of all injuries during a season occur during training, the majority being soft tissue injuries.

MORE RUGBY UNION

It is hoped tighter control over the training environment can reduce injury risk and cumulative contact load to a level which still allows for adequate player conditioning and technical preparation.

Rennie expects little would change for an ordinary week of Wallabies training, with his side preparing to face Argentina in a Rugby Championship clash in Townsville on Saturday night.

But the Wallabies coach wants clarity over World Rugby's definition of "full-contact". He says team versus team drills would hit close to the 15-minute mark but "you've got to add on a lot of things".

"Who's timing it? I'm sure there is a lot of work gone into coming up with these numbers. Are they going to have first XV coaches who have got someone with a stopwatch looking at how much contact work they're doing? I'm not certain how that will pan out," Rennie said.

"Thirty-five to 40 per cent of injuries happen at training which means 60 to 65 happen at games. You've got to make sure from a training point of view we're getting a conditioning load and contact load into them so they can deal with it on game day and they've got the technique required.

"Obviously this focus around reducing injuries is important, the most important thing is ensuring our athletes have the skill set and the knowledge to deal with the combat.

"We suit our boys up a bit, I guess I'd still call that full contact and bone on bone, often three and four minute hits. Tuesday's training, we had two four-minute blocks where we've got four teams going. That's eight minutes of bone on bone for that part.

"From a set piece point of view there's a lot of live mauling. You can't get away from it in our game. I understand the importance of looking after the athlete but you've also got to understand they've got to be trained appropriately to deal with the physical nature of our game.

"We'll do a lot of structure where we'll have what we call 'bodies in front', so there's collisions but it's not full contact ... I assume that's not full contact which we do a lot of at training. The full bone on bone, we'd be under 15 minutes."

World Rugby's consultation included feedback from almost 600 players across men's and women's competitions, as well as input from "leading strength and conditioning, medical and performance experts".

THE RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP

Saturday: New Zealand v South Africa at 5.05pm; Australia v Argentina at 8.05pm at North Queensland Stadium.

Wallabies squad: 1. James Slipper, 2. Folau Fainga'a, 3. Taniela Tupou, 4. Izack Rodda, 5. Matt Philip, 6. Rob Leota, 7. Michael Hooper (c), 8. Rob Valetini, 9. Nic White, 10. Quade Cooper, 11. Marika Koroibete, 12. Samu Kerevi, 13. Len Ikitau, 14. Andrew Kellaway, 15. Reece Hodge. Replacements: 16. Feleti Kaitu'u, 17. Angus Bell, 18. Tom Robertson, 19. Darcy Swain, 20. Pete Samu, 21. Tate McDermott, 22. James O'Connor, 23. Jordan Petaia.

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