sport news The revolutionary device keeping Harlequins and Gloucester on track for ... trends now

sport news The revolutionary device keeping Harlequins and Gloucester on track for ... trends now
sport news The revolutionary device keeping Harlequins and Gloucester on track for ... trends now

sport news The revolutionary device keeping Harlequins and Gloucester on track for ... trends now

When Harlequins and Gloucester meet in a crunch Gallagher Premiership clash at Twickenham on Saturday the two teams will share lots in common.

Both have designs on sealing a play-off spot. Both will want to impress a huge crowd at the home of English rugby. Both will want to continue to play their entertaining brands of rugby.

But what is less well known is that Harlequins and Gloucester are leading the way in utilising revolutionary mouthguard technology as a means of improving player welfare.

Gloucester back Ollie Thorley uses the high-tech mouthguards in training and matches

Gloucester back Ollie Thorley uses the high-tech mouthguards in training and matches

The benefits of doing so have already been felt at both The Stoop and at Kingsholm.

Last season, the use of PROTECHT technology supplied by Sports & Wellbeing Analytics (SWA) played a significant part in Harlequins claiming Premiership glory. This term, it has helped Gloucester climb the table. The technology allows teams to instantly measure the size of contacts experienced by players both in training and matches.

The data is sent back to the sidelines through sensors placed in a player’s mouthguard and provides a number of benefits in terms of both welfare and performance.

Firstly, it allows teams to check for possible concussions or head injuries which might have been missed on the field.

Further, teams are also able to modify the way they train based on the data.

The benefits of the technology have been felt at both The Stoop and at Kingsholm

The benefits of the technology have been felt at both The Stoop and at Kingsholm

Last season, Harlequins reduced the amount of contact they did in training by 70 per cent on the back of analysing the data provided by PROTECHT.

The result was a first Premiership title since 2012.

After a trial at the end of the 2020/21 campaign, Gloucester have utilised the technology on a full-time basis this season and seen a dramatic uplift in form.

‘We use the gumshields in training and in matches and at any time we are doing contact,’ Gloucester back Ollie Thorley told Sportsmail. ‘It gives you assurance the level of your contact is being monitored. There is a lot of pressure on the game now in terms of protecting players.

‘Anything that can monitor impacts is hugely beneficial and it’s a good thing the data you get from the mouthguards means welfare decisions are taken out of the players’ hands.

‘The mouthguard can monitor the velocity of your head movement which is a really good indicator on whether you’ve potentially had a concussive or sub-concussive hit.

‘Even three or four years ago, that wasn’t at the disposal of the medical staff. Rugby is a physical sport so there will always be a degree of risk. But it’s about making sure that risk is as small as possible. I certainly think that since I’ve started playing that risk has been reduced.’

Player welfare is one of – if not the biggest – issue in rugby today.

The diagnosis of former players such as Steve Thompson and Alix Popham with permanent brain damage and early signs of dementia has shown that something must be done.

‘It is massively on the minds of everyone – you can’t really escape it, Thorley admitted.

‘It’s very much prevalent in the media at the moment and rightly so. Steve’s story does sound particularly harrowing.

Harlequins and Gloucester are leading the way in utilising mouthguard technology

Harlequins and Gloucester are leading the way in utilising mouthguard technology

‘Most players will have thoughts about it. It re-emphasises the need to look after ourselves and for our clubs to help us do that. It’s great Gloucester are using this gumshield technology not just for a performance reason now, but for our welfare in the future too.’

Harlequins and Gloucester are the only two Premiership clubs currently prepared to pay to use the technology to ensure their players are looked after. Welsh region Ospreys are also working with PROTECHT who are now in talks with other Premiership and United Rugby Championship teams.

Eoin Power – Gloucester’s head of medical – said: ‘The mouthguard data is fascinating on two levels.

‘Sometimes impacts – like the ones at the bottom of a ruck – go unseen, so the technology gives us an extra layer of protection for the players from the parts of the game we’d prefer didn’t happen.

‘That’s obviously a huge addition to our armoury in the fight to reduce concussion. Secondly, it helps us to optimise our training contact load.

‘If you can get those levels correct it helps you to bulletproof your players. If the data shows a player had a particularly challenging game, we might reduce their overall contact load the following week to ensure they’re fresh and recovered

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