Our Vice-Chancellor Professor Dame Glynis Breakwell today (Tuesday 1 March) welcomed the England men’s rugby team to the University where they are training as part of their preparations for their next RBS 6 Nations match against Wales on Saturday 12 March at Twickenham Stadium.

Professor Breakwell met with England Head Coach Eddie Jones and presented him with a University of Bath rugby shirt and received an England shirt in reply.

Eddie Jones and his coaching team, including University of Bath graduate Steve Borthwick, put the players in the 33-man squad through their paces at the Sports Training Village (STV) earlier this morning.

Among the England squad are George Ford, Jonathan Joseph and Anthony Watson, who play for Bath Rugby – a club that has close links with the University through its Academy and Scholarship programme.

Bath Rugby’s Premiership squad has also used the STV for indoor training during the past month.

Other international rugby teams to have trained at the University are New Zealand and South Africa as well as Australia, who were based at the STV during the early stages of the 2015 Rugby World Cup and went on to reach the final.

The University has conducted research into a range of areas linked to rugby, many of which have had a direct impact on the game.

‘Crouch, bind, set’

As a result of our injury prevention studies, our researchers developed the new scrum engagement technique ‘crouch, bind, set’. In 2013 this was rolled out internationally which will significantly reduce long-term back injuries for players. Find out more: http://www.bath.ac.uk/research/case-studies/safer-rugby-scrums

Biobanding

Researchers from the Department for Health are also actively involved in a new project around bio-banding – a new technique for selecting junior players based on size rather than age. This has important potentials across sports, in particular for rugby. Lead researcher, Dr Sean Cumming, is currently working with Bath Rugby on this initiative. Find out more: http://www.bath.ac.uk/research/case-studies/young-footballers-premier-league

International World Rugby Science Network Conference

In advance of last year’s Rugby World Cup, the University hosted the international World Rugby Science Network Conference involving players, coaches and academics involved in rugby studies from around the world. Find out more: http://www.bath.ac.uk/research/news/2015/09/14/rugby-science-conference/