Influence of playing standard and physical fitness on activity profiles and post-match fatigue during intensified junior rugby league competition

Sports Medicine - Open

Table 2 Physical qualities and average match activity profiles across the tournament between high- and low-fitness groups

	High-standard			Low-standard
	High-fitness	Low-fitness	ES	High-fitness	Low-fitness	ES
Playing time (min)	38 ± 3	33 ± 4	1.41	31 ± 10	30 ± 7	0.16
Distance covered (m)	3,541 ± 278	2,943 ± 735	1.08	2,716 ± 928	2,455 ± 478*	0.35
Relative distance (m·min⁻¹)	92 ± 6	88 ± 6	0.73	88 ± 2	83 ± 6*	1.04
Low-speed activity (m)	2,642 ± 318	2,275 ± 537	0.83	2,218 ± 752	2,007 ± 407	0.35
Low-speed activity (m·min⁻¹)	70 ± 6	70 ± 3	0.04	72 ± 3	68 ± 6	0.69
Moderate-speed running (m)	503 ± 106	349 ± 104*	1.46	302 ± 88*	258 ± 49*	0.62
Moderate-speed running (m·min⁻¹)	13 ± 3	11 ± 2	0.99	10 ± 2*	9 ± 2*	0.36
High-speed running (m)	183 ± 41	149 ± 53	0.74	119 ± 56	117 ± 67	0.03
High-speed running (m·min⁻¹)	4.5 ± 1.1	4.0 ± 1.0	0.45	3.8 ± 0.8	3.8 ± 1.3	0.05
Match speed vs. Yo-Yo speed (%)	35 ± 3	33 ± 2	0.61	35 ± 2	34 ± 3	0.22
Collisions
Total (no.)	19 ± 6	13 ± 7	1.24	10 ± 3*	9 ± 3*	0.35
Total (no./min)	0.5 ± 0.2	0.4 ± 0.1	0.85	0.3 ± 0.1*	0.3 ± 0.1*	0.19
Repeated high-intensity efforts
Bouts (no.)	4 ± 2	3 ± 1*	0.79	1 ± 1*	1 ± 1*	−0.23
Bout frequency (no./min)	1 every 14 min	1 every 16 min	0.26	1 every 24 min	1 every 22 min	−0.27
Internal Loads
RPE (AU)	5 ± 2	5 ± 1	−0.02	3 ± 1	3 ± 1	0.24
Session RPE (AU)	196 ± 31	174 ± 37	0.65	116 ± 22*†	100 ± 27*†	0.64
Physical Qualities
Yo-Yo IRT (m)	1,700 ± 119	1,233 ± 304*	2.02	1,089 ± 188*†	785 ± 155*†	1.76

Low-speed activity = 0 to 3.5 m·s⁻¹; moderate-speed running = 3.6 to 5.0 m·s⁻¹; high-speed running = ≥5.1 m·s⁻¹. RPE = rating of perceived exertion; session RPE = playing time × RPE; Yo-Yo IRT = Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test level 1. ES = effect size, 0.20 to 0.60, 0.61 to 1.19, and >1.20 were considered small, moderate, and large respectively. *Denotes a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) from the high-standard/high-fitness group; †Denotes a statistically significant difference from the high-standard/low-fitness group.