The Performance Department of the Rugby Football Union has today released details of a world leading injury audit, of all registered professional players, aimed at monitoring the injuries sustained in matches and training at both the Zurich Premiership clubs and England representative sessions.

Originally commissioned in November 2001 the study has now reached the crucial stage of being rolled out to all 12 of the Zurich Premiership clubs.

Dr. Simon Kemp the England Team Doctor and Head of Medical Services at the RFU said today "The idea of the audit was suggested to me by Dave Reddin, the England Fitness Advisor. We have brought in John Brooks, a Phd student at Leicester University (Bedford Blues Prop) and Colin Fuller, a leader in his field internationally and a lecturer and safety management consultant from Leicester University, to work with us.

"Having piloted the audit successfully at three Premiership clubs (Northampton Saints, Saracens and Leicester Tigers) at the end of the 2001/02 season, we have been reviewing the data from this year's pre-season training period. These results show that around 18% of injuries occurring during the pre-season training period were non-contact soft-tissue injuries. The most common injuries were hamstring pulls, calf and thigh strains. These ought to be largely preventable and can cost the respective clubs significant sums of money when their players are not available for selection. The study is unique in linking injury to training practices and for the first time we will be able to provide the clubs with evidence based recommendations on how best to reduce the risk of injury."

"We intend to provide individual analysis and feedback reports to all participating clubs of their own data so that they can compare it directly with the Zurich Premiership average. All training sessions will be monitored for their length and content and all injuries sustained by players, coded by the club medical teams. The inclusion of training and match injury data breaks new ground and puts us in a world leading position.

"The day to day recording of injuries and training practices falls to the club medical and fitness staff and they have been incredibly supportive of the study and instrumental in its design and implementation. I hope that this study will be the first of a number of collaborative pieces of medical work.

"The audit has the full support of the PRA and Premier Rugby and, whilst this study is scheduled to last three years, our aim now is to establish the audit as a permanent feature of our work at the RFU.

Dave Reddin, England Fitness Advisor said "The research is ground breaking and has been done in full collaboration with the PRA and the clubs. The audit will play a role in helping us to answer key questions relating to the number of games a player should play, the amount of contact training they do and the appropriate length of the off season. In the long term it will help us improve the preparation of players by making all parties involved aware of the risks involved in different types of training and the need to provide alternatives. This study allows us to identify the nature of the problem. Once we have done that, we can use our collective expertise to come up with solutions. The methods in place at the moment are good but the aim of the audit is to help all of us make them even better.

"The audit may help us to reduce the number of injuries thereby improving selection options and player availability for the Directors of Rugby, develop fitter and more injury free players and ultimately extend their careers."

Howard Thomas, Chief Executive of Premier Rugby said "The injury audit provides invaluable information to all parties in the Zurich Premiership, which will help the management of the professional game in England at club and country level."

Damian Hopley, Chief Executive of the PRA said "A player's career can be a relatively short one and any research that helps to extend it has our full support."