Nature and severity of injuries as a function of their location and pathology
| Injury | Playing position | Number of injuries (severity, assessed as days absence) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Head and neck | Upper limb | Trunk | Lower limb | All | ||
| Fractures and bone stress | Forwards | 2 (9) | 4 (31) | 1 (16) | 6 (61) | 13 (40) |
| Backs | 1 (6) | 2 (38) | 1 (18) | 4 (28) | 8 (26) | |
| Joint (non-bone) and ligament | Forwards | 3 (6) | 15 (51) | 33 (22) | 56 (24) | 107 (27) |
| Backs | 0 (–) | 11 (59) | 8 (17) | 24 (38) | 43 (39) | |
| Muscle and tendon | Forwards | 1 (33) | 3 (66) | 12 (16) | 93 (18) | 109 (19) |
| Backs | 1 (2) | 4 (26) | 7 (10) | 82 (16) | 94 (16) | |
| Laceration and skin | Forwards | 2 (5) | 0 (–) | 0 (–) | 1 (13) | 3 (7) |
| Backs | 1 (4) | 0 (–) | 0 (–) | 0 (–) | 1 (4) | |
| Central/peripheral nervous system | Forwards | 3 (27) | 0 (–) | 2 (142) | 1 (3) | 6 (61) |
| Backs | 4 (12) | 0 (–) | 0 (–) | 2 (34) | 6 (19) | |
| Other | Forwards | 0 (–) | 0 (–) | 2 (2) | 0 (–) | 2 (2) |
| Backs | 0 (–) | 0 (–) | 3 (3) | 0 (–) | 3 (3) | |
| All | Forwards | 11 (14) | 22 (49) | 50 (25) | 157 (21) | 240 (24) |
| Backs | 7 (9) | 17 (49) | 19 (12) | 112 (21) | 155 (23) | |
| All | 18 (12) | 39 (49) | 69 (21) | 269 (21) | 395 (24) | |