Oct 6 : Rugby players who swing their non-kicking side-arm across their chest as they make contact with the ball are the most accurate kickers, particularly over long distances, a new study in the journal Sports Biomechanics reports.

As part of their study, researchers from the University of Bath, England, analysed the kicking techniques of professional and semi-professional rugby players to see which technique was most successful.

The scientists believe that the momentum caused by the movement of opposite arm across the chest helps kickers control the amount of rotation in their bodies.

As such, when they kick the ball, their body is facing the target for longer.

Also the movement of the arm helps counteract the movement of the leg, allowing the kicker to stay more upright, increasing their margin of error and improving their accuracy, they said.

“In taking a kick, players try to have their torso facing the target at the point of impact with the ball. Swinging their non-kicking-side arm helps players to maintain this position for longer – allowing them to develop a ‘J’ shaped kicking action, rather than backwards ‘C’ shaped one,” said Dr Grant Trewartha from the University of Bath.

“When you examine their action from the front, it is clear that this action also helps counteract the swing of the leg, enabling the players to remain more upright at ball contact. This should increase their error of margin, and increase their overall accuracy.

“In our study, those players who swung their non-kicking-side arm across the body were approximately twice as accurate as those who used it less or not at all,” he said.

“It is interesting that the technique that came out on top in our analysis is a close match with the Rugby World Cup’s most successful kickers so far,” he added.

The research involved fitting five players with reflective markers that enabled researchers to monitor the three-dimensional kicking techniques of the players.

They were then set a variety of kicking challenges, and recorded using high-resolution cameras to monitor the motion of the legs, arms and torso in three dimensions.

This data was then fed through special analytical software that enabled the researchers to identify and measure trends in kicking techniques.

Dr Trewartha said if a coach was working with an inaccurate kicker who did not make use of their non-kicking-side arm, their findings could well help them improve their game.

Dr Trewartha worked with Neil Bezodis, a PhD student at Bath, and colleagues from the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff on the project. (ANI)