The Springboks have embraced the tech age and have become world-leaders in data analysis and the use of cutting-edge innovations.
Despite the notorious statement made by former Springbok coach Andre Markgraaf that “rugby is not rock science,” the present administration fortunately has a somewhat more progressive outlook on development.
The computer era has been embraced by the Springboks.
HOW THE SPRINGBOKS USE TECH?
The Springboks have embraced the growing significance of modern technologies in the world of high-performance sport.
“Technology is vital because it makes performance measurement and monitoring possible. Tech Central was informed by South African Rubgy Union (Saru) technical support manager Willie Maree, “For example, we may have been quite dominant in the last game, but we might not have achieved our internal objectives; we couldn’t measure that without the technological tools at our disposal.”
Secondly, it is beneficial for us to step in throughout the next several weeks in terms of conditioning. Are there any players that we should bench, and are there any others who may benefit from a boost?
The Springboks make use of all the standard extras that elite athletes have access to, such as heartrate monitors and cutting-edge GPS pods made by STATSports.
Maree takes equal pride in the tools his team has created to analyze match data in real time and provide the technical team quick feedback.
“We worked with our local partner, Mobii technology, to design the technology a few years ago. At 0.25 seconds from live, our latency makes us the fastest system in the world right now, according to Maree.SCIENTIFIC APPLICATION
The goal is not just to collect information but also to identify useful applications for the knowledge gained.
It is possible to view maybe more than 200 or even 300 metrics by combining STATSports with the GPS pod. However, the goal is to focus on what will actually have an impact. We refer to our unique metric—the high-metabolic load distance—as the “rugby metric.” When it comes to running, distance is irrelevant; what matters in the game is how fast you can get from one spot to the next, according to Maree.
We employ custom solutions that address individual, group, and team performance on a technical and tactical level. In order to provide each player a profile and enable us to speculate, for example, that one player may be overtraining while another may be undertraining, we also employ athlete management tools.
