Rugby: Research shows Super Rugby players suffer image anxiety

Hurricanes players during a training session in 2017. Photo / Photosport.

Researchers at the University of Otago have found some Super Rugby players struggle to balance eating correctly with looking good.

A 49-item questionnaire asking players to rate each part of their body from 'always happy' to 'never happy' was completed by 26 Super Rugby players during pre-season training. The results showed, in some cases, players were making themselves sick or binge-eating to control their food intake.

Young players were found to be particularly susceptible to body image issues.

Lead author Katherine Black told Nine To Noon the ways players were trying to control their body image was unhealthy.

"We're sort of getting up to, not clinical eating disorders, but borderline potential problems, in terms of the way that they're eating - so binge-eating or thinking about making themselves sick to control the amount that they're eating."

High performance sports dietitian Dane Baker, who works with the Chiefs, told Radio New Zealand players were expending up to 4000 calories a day from exercise alone, and social media was adding to the pressure to look good.

"I think what we are seeing now is a reflection of what we've seen in female athletes - it's been well-documented for the past 20 years that there's a high amount of pressure on body image," he said. "Nowadays you only have to look on Instagram or Facebook to see those sorts of pressure on young guys."