World Rugby is constantly reviewing the game for all the stakeholders.

Last November, our ‘Shape of the Game’ meeting got all of the big hitters in the same room. 

Union CEOs, team coaches, competition owners, referees and players were there at the meeting.

Over the course of two days, we discussed issues such as the current game-metrics and trends, medical and research issues and how to make the game more attractive to new audiences.

One clear theme from players, coaches and match officials was speeding up the game. 

We can now see action taken on shot clocks, huddling at the lineout and the foul-play review bunker.

Developing the women’s game

We ran a similar exercise at our women’s high-performance meetings, attended by head coaches, high-performance managers, referees and competition managers.

"The group agreed a smaller size needed to be trialled. But that is easier said than done..."

One discussion area which emerged from this gathering was the enormous array of analytics now being produced from the game.

Player welfare was at the top of the agenda. We have long been keen to move into the instrumented-mouthguard space and for the women’s game to be flagbearers for the detail it can give us around contact load and match dynamics. 

In the latest WXV international tournaments, all teams wore instrumented mouthguards. That will give us a massive data set. There are also analytics from all, bar one team, in last year’s Women’s World Cup.

We had a good discussion about ball size, and, collectively, the group agreed that a smaller size needed to be trialled. That, however, is easier said than done. 

To put a different-sized ball into one competition, as a trial, means that players who play across more than one level will have to adjust.

For example, if it were trialled in the Allianz Premiership, any player who stepped up into their international team would be disadvantaged.