Rugby will use mouthguard technology as part of its efforts to detect brain injuries suffered by players on the field.
The smart technology, which measures the force of head impacts in real time, will send alerts to an independent matchday doctor to signal “a high level of acceleration which could lead to an injury,” global governing body World Rugby said today.
Players who might not have shown symptoms can then be taken off the field and checked out as part of the Head Injury Assessment (HIA) process.
World Rugby said it is investing 2 million euros (US$2.1 million) in the technology to support unions, competitions and clubs. It will be used for the first time in the inaugural edition of the WXV — the global women’s competition — this month and integrated into the HIA from January.