'Work is never done' to make league as safe as possible despite positive figures on injuries for 2024-25 season

PWR Executive Chair Genevieve Shore has welcomed the latest figures on injury incidence in Premiership Women’s Rugby but says the “work is never done” when it comes to making sure the league is as safe as possible for its athletes. 

Premiership Women’s Rugby saw a decrease in injury incidence last season, as findings from the 2024/25 Women’s Rugby Injury Surveillance Project (WRISP) showed, and Shore has attributed this to the hard work of the PWR, RFU, RPA and the players themselves in putting together a ‘cohesive plan’ of action. 

Match injury incidence dropped from 60.6 injuries per 1,000 match hours to 53.2 injuries per 1,000 match hours. 

Meanwhile, training injury incidence decreased from 2.74 injuries per 1,000 training hours to 2.33 in 1,000 injuries.  

All of this was despite a truncated season, which was necessary to make space for the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup. 

Executive chair Genevieve Shore said: “Any study that we do is longitudinal, so a single year where there is a small drop does not necessarily give us a picture where we can change things. 

“That being said, last year was a very short season with a lot more back-to-back games than we usually play. We were very mindful of the fact that we were putting players into more stressful situations and tried to manage this to ensure there was not an uplift in injuries, and there was not. As we go into another long, full season, it will be interesting to do a comparison.” 

Now in its eighth year, WRISP provides important baseline data to assess trends in injury risk; it monitors and tries to understand further the nature, incidence and burden of injuries in women’s rugby.  

The report covers both the club game and the Red Roses, to allow for further alignment between the domestic and international games.  

It also helps to inform the standards and initiatives the PWR has in place to support athlete welfare and work to reduce and prevent injury, with the 2024/25 report to inform standards for the 2026/27 season and beyond.  

That includes standards regarding players’ physical preparation for games and medical resources in the club environment and at matches.  

The minimum standards also include requirements around what performance staff clubs need to have, the facilities and equipment they have, the systems and technology in place and all the professional protocols and qualifications to ensure player welfare.  

The standards also cover processes, including having an emergency action plan for both training and matches, and mandatory pre-season baseline concussion testing. 

Systems that support player welfare include the use of instrumented mouthguards, medical reporting through Kitman Labs, and the use of Hawkeye for HIA assessments and monitoring at training.  

There has also been a move to have more regular and real-time updates on injuries, including concussion rates, to allow the league and clubs to be more reactive to the incidences of injuries.  

Furthermore, the real-time findings of the WRISP report will also inform research into injuries in women’s rugby to ensure the guidance and standards produced by the PWR are as accurate as possible.  

Shore added: “These results are hugely positive and support the wider work being done around our athlete care strategy. 

“At PWR, we work each season with stakeholders at the RFU, the RPA (Rugby Players’ Association), the clubs and of course the players themselves.  

“To make progress like this, it requires a cohesive plan and continuous development from every part of the system to understand the real athlete experience. We are aiming to bring all five elements together to build a truly comprehensive athlete care strategy” 

To read the full 2024/25 WRISP report, click here.