About the Authors

Daniel J. Cunningham

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Methodology, Project administration, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Applied Sport Technology Exercise and Medicine Research Centre (A-STEM), College of Engineering, Swansea University, Swansea, Wales

David A. Shearer

Roles Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations School of Psychology and Therapeutic Studies, University of South Wales, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Wales, Welsh Institute of Performance Science, College of Engineering, Swansea University, Swansea, Wales

Neil Carter

Roles Formal analysis, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Psychology, College of Human and Health Science, Swansea University, Swansea, Wales

Scott Drawer

Roles Conceptualization, Methodology, Project administration, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Sky Performance Hub, Team Sky, London, England

Ben Pollard

Roles Formal analysis, Methodology, Project administration, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Saracens RFC, North London, England

Mark Bennett

Roles Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation The Rugby Football Union, Greater London, England

Robin Eager

Roles Data curation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation The Rugby Football Union, Greater London, England

Christian J. Cook

Roles Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Applied Sport Technology Exercise and Medicine Research Centre (A-STEM), College of Engineering, Swansea University, Swansea, Wales, University of Canberra Research Institute for Sport and Exercise, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australia

John Farrell

Roles Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Georgian Rugby Union, Tbilisi, Georgia

Mark Russell

Roles Methodology, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation School of Social and Health Sciences, Leeds Trinity University, Leeds, England

Liam P. Kilduff

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

l.kilduff@swansea.ac.uk

Affiliations Applied Sport Technology Exercise and Medicine Research Centre (A-STEM), College of Engineering, Swansea University, Swansea, Wales, Welsh Institute of Performance Science, College of Engineering, Swansea University, Swansea, Wales

Competing Interests

We have the following interests. Scott Drawer, Mark Bennett, Robin Eager and Ben Pollard are employed by The Rugby Football Union. John Farrell was employed by Georgia Rugby Union and Scott Drawer is currently employed by Team Sky. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter our adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.