An assessment of training volume in professional rugby union and its impact on the incidence, severity, and nature of match and training injuries

A prospective cohort study was used to assess the influence of training volume on injuries sustained by 502 professional rugby union players in England. Training volumes (excluding warm-ups, cool-downs, and recovery sessions), player injuries, and player match exposure times were reported weekly. Higher training volumes (>9.1 hours per week) did not increase the incidence of match or training injuries. However, higher training volumes did increase the severity of match injuries, particularly during the second half, and consequently resulted in a significant increase in the number of days' absence due to match injuries. Although lower-limb injuries were the most common match and training injuries, shoulder dislocations/instabilities resulted in more days' absence during weeks of higher training volumes, but the differences were not significant. The least number of days lost due to injuries occurred during weeks of intermediate training volumes (6.2-9.1 h per week). Training volume was not correlated with final league position. Fitness testing, defence, and rucking and mauling components were identified as being very high- or high-risk training activities. Our results provide evidence of the benefits of modifying the volume and content of rugby union training to reduce the risk associated with injuries to professional players.     

Book reviews

Mir, Mustansir. Verbal Idioms of the Qur'ān. (Michigan Series on the Middle East, no. I). Ann Arbon University of Michigan, 1989. xxi+378 pp., glossary; US$ 21.95 (paperback).

Fiotini, Stanley and Mallia‐Milanes, Victor, eds. Malta. A Case Study in International Cross‐Currents. Proceedings of the First International Colloquium on the History of the Central Mediterranean held at the University of Malta, 13–17 December 1989. Msida: Malta University Publications, 1991. xxii+300pp. 17 plates, 8 text figures. M£5.

Bellamy, James A. ed. Studies in Near Eastern Culture and History in Memory of Ernest T. Abdel‐Massih. (Michigan Series on the Middle East, no. 2). Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan, 1990. x+225pp.

Dajani‐Shakeel, Hadia and Messier, Ronald A. eds. The Jihād and its Times, dedicated to Andrew Stefan Ehrenkreutz. Ann Arbor: Center for Near Eastern and North African Studies, The University of Michigan, 1991. iii+135pp.

Minorités religieuses dans l'Espagne médiévale. (Nos. 63–64 of Revue du Monde Musulman et de la Méditerranée). Aix‐en‐Provence: Édisud, 1992. FF 160.

Burckhardt, Titus. Fez, City of Islam. Translated by William Stoddart. Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 1992. 175pp. 58pl.

Jayyusi, Salma Kh., ed. The Legacy of Muslim Spain. Leiden: Brill, 1992. (Handbuch der Orientalistik, Erste Abteilung, The Near and Middle East, zwolfter Band), xix+1098 pp. 6 maps; 27 pages of colour and black and white illustrations. Hfl. 450.

Stetkevych, Jaroslav. The Zephyrs of Najd: The Poetics of Nostalgia in the Classical Arabic Nasib. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993. xii+326pp.

Corbin, Henry. History of Islamic Philosophy. London: Kegan Paul International/Islamic Publications for The Institute of Ismaili Studies, 1993. xvii+445pp. £55.

Burrell, David B., C.S.C. Freedom and Creation in Three Traditions. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1993. xi, 225 pp. Cloth $29.95; paper $13.95.

Köprülü, Mehmed Fuad. Islam in Anatolia after the Turkish Invasion. Translated and edited by Gary Leiser. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1993. xviii, 141pp.

Stetkevych, Suzanne Pinckney. The Mute Immortals Speak: Pre‐Islamic Poetry and the Poetics of Ritual (Myth and Poetics. Gen. ed. Gregory Nagy). Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1993. xvi, 334pp.; appendix of Arabic texts.

L'Expulsió dels Moriscos. Conseqüències en el món islàmic i el món cristià. Sant Caries de la Ràpita 5–9 de desembre de 1990. Barcelona: Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament de Cultura, 1994. 418pp.

Agius, Dionisius A. and Hitchcock, Richard, eds. The Arab Influence in Medieval Europe (Folia Scholastica Mediterranean Reading: Ithaca Press, 1994. 167pp. £30.

Davidson, Olga M. Poet and Hero in the Persian Book of Kings (Myth and Poetics. Gen. ed. Gregory Nagy). Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1994. xi, 197pp.     

Academic Integrity in Electronic Universities of the New Millennium: a Practitioner's Perspective

Drawing upon its experience as a pioneer of open and distance learning in the management education field, the Open University Business School of the United Kingdom has now extended its system of student communication and support to include the use of computer‐mediated conferencing as a mass teaching tool. After outlining the method of supported open learning practiced by this Business School, the article describes the use of computer‐mediated conferencing in the graduate entry course to the MBA programme, a course that attracts some 1,500 managers each year from across Europe. The article then summarizes two years of student evaluation of their use of computer‐mediated conferencing as a learning support medium. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of student reactions to computer‐mediated conferencing for the future effective use of information and communications technologies (ICT) in management education.     

Facilitating the Learning of Transitional Students: strategies for success for all students

This paper outlines successful strategies facilitating the learning of international students making the transition to an Australian university campus from colleges elsewhere. Starting university as “second‐year” students they were without the institutional infrastructure and support normally provided for “first‐year” students. Although the strategies adopted were motivated by a desire to develop the communication skills, critical thinking and independence of transitional students, they were of potential benefit to all students. This paper documents a programme of extra learning support that has evolved through the collaboration of the authors. The results include reduced failure rates and improved student participation and performance through the development of a progressively more interactive approach, although gender differences have become apparent. The findings support the notion that curriculum redesign promoting interaction, autonomy and reflection combined with a collaborative programme integrating appropriate language and learning skills development with course content, can potentially benefit all students, and especially transitional students.     

The search for a model of effective inclusive practice through the Young Enterprise Scheme

Many practitioners are now grappling with the practical realities involved in collaborations between mainstream and special schools. Colin Gladstone is a teacher at Greenside, a special school in Hertfordshire. In this article he describes his experience of running a Young Enterprise Scheme project linking teenage students with severe learning difficulties with students from a mainstream secondary school. Colin Gladstone used a Best Practice Research Scholarship (BPRS) and his MEd studies to carry out sustained research into the processes and outcomes of this project named, by the students, 'The Green Team'. The project was clearly a success on many levels, promoting teamwork, collaboration and friendship between the students. It led to accreditation for some and enhanced personal autonomy for others. Colin Gladstone's conclusions will be relevant to practitioners wishing to expand the curriculum for students with and without learning difficulties; to policy makers who wish to promote more active links between mainstream and special schools; and to researchers who wish to engage students in enquiry processes.