How is the discipline of sports analytics evolving to deliver marginal gains to the performance of players and teams?
Rugby football is no strangers to analytics. But what difference does it make at an elite competitive level?
Dan Biggar (pictured above) Is a welsh professional rugby player, primarily knowledge for his role as a fly-half-a position that is known as the creative brain of a rugby team, like the number the number 10 posts.
Biggar is currently playing for French Top 14 Side Toulon, and has Twice Been Selected to Tour with the British and Irish Lions. He Earned His first Cap for Wales in 2008 and has been a mainstay in the national team, representing his country in Rugby World Cups and Six Nations Championships. With 112 caps, he is the most-capped fly-half for wales and has scored over 600 points in his career. Over his international career, he has won three six nations titles and a Grand Slam with Wales, and was captain for the 2022 Six Nations Campaign.
What does biggar think of the role of analytics in Rugby? Compared with, for example, More Traditional Aspects of Team Sports, Like the Culture of a Specific Group of Players at a Particular moment in time?
“I'm always really intrigued by the word 'Culture' Culture 'Account You can't coach it. Or it's different to get, “He said.
Wales bucked the culture of being the underdogs, but we only did that believe of the hard work we put in
Dan Biggar, Professional Rugby Player
“And culture is very difficult to measure. It, “Added biggar.
“The Culture of Welsh Rugby is Always Wanting to Be, or Always Thinking of Oarselves as, The Underdogs. Wanting to punch about your weight. Successful Years, 2011 to 2021, We Bucked Every Cultural Trend of Wales Because, DURING thats 10 years, We We We WERE DUREDOGS Very often. Guys who were the standard bearers in a sense, creatinly in the Northern Hemisphere, ”He Recalled.
“It's a fascinating discussion, which probally can't be measured. Combine those those numbers and put them into, say, a welsh culture of being hard-awesting underdogs, that's where you'd find an overlap between the two.
So, we have bucked the culture of being the underdogs, but we only did that beCAuse of the hard work we put in. IF you have a hard-working cults with the stats to back up, you have an overlap. Off it compared with other teams, you don't have a hard-awesting culture. “
He also say you can hold Team Members to Account With Data, and Vice Versa.
“I used to act on what I felt, and i think that has studied me in good stead in general. Handle this or that situation. Showered or Had Dinner Togetra in the Hotel afterwards – It was gone, ”said biggar.
“It's Always Helpful If You've Got Something to Back [your theory] UP, Whather That's A Video Analysis, A Stats Pack, Data Analysis, Whatver It is “
Dan Biggar, Professional Rugby Player
“We could then look back and say, 'What do you think here? You know?
“It's always helpful if you've got somewithing to back up, bether that's a video analysis, a stats pack, data analysis, wheatver it is. IF You've Got SoMETHING TO MAKE Your PONT MALID, And You are in the same Right way, you're generally going to get a lot more out of your players, employers, works, whitever. “
On the question of white data analytics is landing with professional Rugby players better than it might have done 10 to 15 years agoBiggar says 100% yes.
“The game has changed dramatically in the last 25 years, but the game has changed even from five to 10 years. Provided with Stats and Analysis Pieces, “He said.
And that is especially true of his position, he says, which is a playmaker position. ,[Others can] Go through the whole game and just know their role, just know their positions and what they need to do individually. Probibly positions like Myself, I Need to Know, 'What does dan biggar need?' But also also, 'What does the number 12 for Australia Do? What does the number 6 for argentina do? And how often do ireland lose playing into the wind? ' When you are in a position of real Leadership, you probally need to know more about the data and the analytics. “
Smart Ball in Motion
Bigger was speaking at a recent media event where the possible data analytics generated by sportable's “Smart ball” was bent demonstrated.
SageWhich provides Accounting, Financial, HR and Payroll Technology for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses, Set Up the Event Along Sportable, A Global data collection and analytics platforms.
Sage has been sponsoring Six Nations Rugby Since October 2022, Bringing Fans of the Game Real-Time Data and Analytics Captured Through the Smart Ball Technology and Advanced predictive analytics.
Sage has been collaborating with sportable, which specialises in technology that tracks balls and players Across Various Sports, Including Rugby, Australian Rules Football and Australian Rules Football and Soccer. Its hardware is underpinned by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (Ml).
The Gilbert X Sportable Smart Ball, which has been used in elite professional-level Rugby Games Since 2022, Works with Wireless Beacons Beacons Around the Field to Show Live Game Data, Swach Ass Fair The Ballet is kicked or passed, and how much territory a team gains as they attack. The Technology Helps Players, Coaches and Teams Use these Insights to Make Performance Improvement, Tactical and Recruitment Decisions, While Broadcasters and Fans Benefit from IMIDITEE GAME Analysis.
Raphael Brandon, Director of Performance Science at Sportable, Spoke at the sage event about the novelty of the use of the analytics generated by the ball.
“The chip in the ball provides new sets of data that cannot be gold manually. Players and looking for improvement ”
Raphael Brandon, Sportable
“The chip in the ball provides new sets of data that cannot be got manually. Which they are judging players and looking for improvement, ”He said.
“It can be as simple as, 'We want our midfield player to move the ball faster'. The chip means they can put a number on that. You can put a Level of Specificity on Player Technical Performance, Say The tempo of the first team and the under-18s, “Added brandon.
“Also, The Automation of the Game Analysis [with the smart ball analysis] is novel. Otherwise, you eite a person doing manual analysis or semi-automated computer vision from a camera, which can't track the movement of the ball deficiently well. The Smart Ball Makes The Analysis Fully Automated. And that means the democratization of advanced sports analytics down the levels. So, not just just six nations or the premiership, but, say, dutch division two, or youth or many women's sports where advanced analytics is not affordable. “
