POSI TECH: Innovating Rugby Union Frame by Frame

Concussions continue to represent a significant problem at the grassroots level of rugby union as “the head has consistently been found to be one of the most commonly injured body parts (between 10% and 29%)” in players around the world (Kemp, 2008, pp.227). POSI TECH serves to be the breakthrough in reducing the number of concussions sustained at a grassroots level by providing players with a virtual reality app to practice tackle technique and attacking positioning at home with just an untethered head-mounted display (HMD). POSI TECH appeals to all demographics as players only require a headset and two controllers to feel the six degrees of freedom and utilise the game-like training scenarios in first-person against fifteen opposing players.

*Figure 1 – Here we see the player running the correct hard-line toward the arrow*

*Figure 2 – The player has now gathered the ball and is heading in the right direction toward arrow*

The app allows players to reduce the number of contact training sessions they are participating in each week as well as maintaining a progressive training schedule that focuses heavily on player welfare by teaching core techniques and skills. According to Prieto-González in his study surrounding amateur adolescent athletes, in a sample of 498 athletes, “fifty-nine point two eight percent of the injuries occurred during athletic training” (Prieto-González, 2021). Therefore, by implementing POSI TECH into grassroots level training routines, concussions and fatal brain injuries will be reduced by over 50% because the virtual nature eliminates the risk element of ‘head on body’ or ‘head on head’ contact in training. As figures 3 and 4 show, the incorrect positioning in rugby can result in injury very easily as the attacking player will run into the opposition rather than the gaps.

*Figure 3 – The hard line is too narrow which puts the flyhalf and inside centre in danger of injury*

*Figure 4 – The player has chosen the wrong line which has created a dominant one one one tackle for the defender*

As you can see from all the figures above, the tutorial is shown in the third person. However, within the actual gameplay, the user of POSI TECH will be fully immersed in the first person.

The user flow diagrams detail the opening scenes of the POSI TECH VR experience, outlining the welcome screen all the way up to the tutorial of a beginner attacking move (hard-line). Many of the paths have been ended early as this is only the user flow diagram of a grassroots player who wants to practice a hard line.