Effects of scoring system manipulation on tactical, conditional, and emotional responses in rugby union academy players

Background: rugby union coaches design small-sided games (SSGs) by altering task conditions to guide players toward the desired objectives. Placing greater value on scoring a try in the centre of the in-goal area may encourage players to play more centrally. Objective: to compare the tactical and co...

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Autores: Sorreluz-Uria, Juan, Los Arcos Larumbe, Asier, Aginaga García, Jokin, González-Artetxe, Asier
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universidad Pública de Navarra
Repositorio:Academica-e. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Pública de Navarra
OAI Identifier:oai:academica-e.unavarra.es:2454/55025
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2454/55025
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Team sports
Youth sports
Coaching
Time and motion studies
Behaviour
Motivation
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spelling Effects of scoring system manipulation on tactical, conditional, and emotional responses in rugby union academy playersSorreluz-Uria, JuanLos Arcos Larumbe, AsierAginaga García, JokinGonzález-Artetxe, AsierTeam sportsYouth sportsCoachingTime and motion studiesBehaviourMotivationBackground: rugby union coaches design small-sided games (SSGs) by altering task conditions to guide players toward the desired objectives. Placing greater value on scoring a try in the centre of the in-goal area may encourage players to play more centrally. Objective: to compare the tactical and conditional responses, along with perceptions of enjoyment and competence, of rugby union academy players during regular (SSGREG) and conditioned (SSGCOND) SSGs. Methods: Sixteen U18 male rugby union players competed in two 4 × 5 min eight-a-side games (219 m2 per player) with (SSGCOND) and without (SSGREG) triple point value in the central part of the in-goal area. Players' tactical (central tendency and approximate entropy measures of surface area, length, width, dyads, and stretch and spatial exploration indices) and conditional (total distance travelled and distances at different speed zones) responses were assessed using GPS data. Players also rated their enjoyment and perceived competence for each SSG. Results: young rugby union players significantly (p < .05) occupied less space (surface area: r = .13; length: r = .05; width: r = .24), played closer together (dyads: r = .16; stretch index: r = .14) and explored less (r = .63) in the SSGCOND than in the SSGREG, with no differences in entropy measures (p > .05) across task conditions. They also ran significantly (p < .001) more overall (d = 1.21) and at low-to-medium speed (d = 0.85) but not at higher speeds (p > .05) in the conditioned scenario than in the regular one. Players' perceptions of enjoyment and competence did not differ (p > .05) across SSGs. Conclusions: manipulating the scoring system in rugby union SSGs encouraged players to play more compactly and run more, with no changes in distances travelled at highest speeds nor in perceptions of enjoyment and competence. Thus, academy coaches can benefit from the tactical impact of this manipulation without exceeding habitual high-speed running demands or impairing players' subjective experience.Palacký University in OlomoucIngenieríaIngeniaritzaInstitute of Smart Cities - ISC2025info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/2454/55025reponame:Academica-e. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Pública de Navarrainstname:Universidad Pública de NavarraInglés© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Palacký University Olomouc. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This license does not cover any third-party material that may appear with permission in the article.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:academica-e.unavarra.es:2454/550252026-06-17T12:41:47Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Effects of scoring system manipulation on tactical, conditional, and emotional responses in rugby union academy players
title Effects of scoring system manipulation on tactical, conditional, and emotional responses in rugby union academy players
spellingShingle Effects of scoring system manipulation on tactical, conditional, and emotional responses in rugby union academy players
Sorreluz-Uria, Juan
Team sports
Youth sports
Coaching
Time and motion studies
Behaviour
Motivation
title_short Effects of scoring system manipulation on tactical, conditional, and emotional responses in rugby union academy players
title_full Effects of scoring system manipulation on tactical, conditional, and emotional responses in rugby union academy players
title_fullStr Effects of scoring system manipulation on tactical, conditional, and emotional responses in rugby union academy players
title_full_unstemmed Effects of scoring system manipulation on tactical, conditional, and emotional responses in rugby union academy players
title_sort Effects of scoring system manipulation on tactical, conditional, and emotional responses in rugby union academy players
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Sorreluz-Uria, Juan
Los Arcos Larumbe, Asier
Aginaga García, Jokin
González-Artetxe, Asier
author Sorreluz-Uria, Juan
author_facet Sorreluz-Uria, Juan
Los Arcos Larumbe, Asier
Aginaga García, Jokin
González-Artetxe, Asier
author_role author
author2 Los Arcos Larumbe, Asier
Aginaga García, Jokin
González-Artetxe, Asier
author2_role author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Ingeniería
Ingeniaritza
Institute of Smart Cities - ISC
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Team sports
Youth sports
Coaching
Time and motion studies
Behaviour
Motivation
topic Team sports
Youth sports
Coaching
Time and motion studies
Behaviour
Motivation
description Background: rugby union coaches design small-sided games (SSGs) by altering task conditions to guide players toward the desired objectives. Placing greater value on scoring a try in the centre of the in-goal area may encourage players to play more centrally. Objective: to compare the tactical and conditional responses, along with perceptions of enjoyment and competence, of rugby union academy players during regular (SSGREG) and conditioned (SSGCOND) SSGs. Methods: Sixteen U18 male rugby union players competed in two 4 × 5 min eight-a-side games (219 m2 per player) with (SSGCOND) and without (SSGREG) triple point value in the central part of the in-goal area. Players' tactical (central tendency and approximate entropy measures of surface area, length, width, dyads, and stretch and spatial exploration indices) and conditional (total distance travelled and distances at different speed zones) responses were assessed using GPS data. Players also rated their enjoyment and perceived competence for each SSG. Results: young rugby union players significantly (p < .05) occupied less space (surface area: r = .13; length: r = .05; width: r = .24), played closer together (dyads: r = .16; stretch index: r = .14) and explored less (r = .63) in the SSGCOND than in the SSGREG, with no differences in entropy measures (p > .05) across task conditions. They also ran significantly (p < .001) more overall (d = 1.21) and at low-to-medium speed (d = 0.85) but not at higher speeds (p > .05) in the conditioned scenario than in the regular one. Players' perceptions of enjoyment and competence did not differ (p > .05) across SSGs. Conclusions: manipulating the scoring system in rugby union SSGs encouraged players to play more compactly and run more, with no changes in distances travelled at highest speeds nor in perceptions of enjoyment and competence. Thus, academy coaches can benefit from the tactical impact of this manipulation without exceeding habitual high-speed running demands or impairing players' subjective experience.
publishDate 2025
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2025
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/2454/55025
url https://hdl.handle.net/2454/55025
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Palacký University in Olomouc
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Palacký University in Olomouc
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Academica-e. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Pública de Navarra
instname:Universidad Pública de Navarra
instname_str Universidad Pública de Navarra
reponame_str Academica-e. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Pública de Navarra
collection Academica-e. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Pública de Navarra
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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