Macs in Rugby

John_Rambo

Anyone know what the macbook pros and the imacs are for that the coaches have in front of them during the matches?

Just curious, thanks.

Creamy Goodness

strategies, plays, notes?

Angry Birds?

Getting reactions from boards.ie?

martybike

Good question. I've seen them used for video analysis post-match, but I'm not sure what the coaches are seeing during the game.

And while we're at it, what are the coaches hearing on their earpieces? You often see Johnson speaking into a mike, indicating it's at least 2-way communication, but Kidney just seems listen in.

Damokc

maybe they have access to instant replays of whatever they want?

what exactly are the rules on communication between coach and players?
is it strictly disallowed or can a "runner" be used between the two?

durkadurka

Deleted User wrote: »

Angry Birds?

Getting reactions from boards.ie?

Kidney:'Jesus Christ! Cumguzzler58 thinks that sexton is ****e! Put him at 12!'
Gaffney:' Nah mate, chestylarue says we should put SOB at 12.'

irishbucsfan

The technology they have is incredible.

Teferi

Isn't it a load of that software that allows them to see where players are in relation to fitness and injuries during the game? I think the data is taken during training with those things they were on the back of the shoulders and then it is used to help during the game...

zinzan

http://www.sportstec.com/

Sportscode seems to be what they use.

http://www.sportstec.com/Clients_Client_List_Global


RUGBY UNION

 Ireland

SportsCode
Ashbourne RFC
Ballymena RFC 
Carlow Institute of Technology
Clontarf RFC
Connacht Rugby
Corinthians RFC
Cork Constitution RFC
Dolphin RFC
Dungannon RFC 
Galwegians RFC
Garryowen RFC
Greystones RFC
Highfield R.F.C.
Irish Rugby Football Union-Grades
Irish Rugby Football Union High Performance Unit
Irish Rugby Football Union - Referees Department
Irish Rugby Football Union-Connaught
Irish Rugby Football Union-Ireland A Squad
Irish Rugby Football Union-Leinster
Irish Rugby Football Union-Munster
Irish Rugby Football Union Ulster
Leinster Domestic Rugby
Munster Academy Limerick
Munster Rugby
National University of Ireland Maynooth
Old Belvedere RFC
Queens University RFC 
S.I.N.I. Rugby
Terenure College Rugby 
Thomond Rugby Football Club
Trinity College RFC
Tuam RFC
UL Bohemian Rugby Football Club
Ulster Branch Domestic Rugby
Ulster Rugby Academy
University College Cork 
Wanderers Rugby
Wicklow RFC


National Teams

Argentina (Los Pumas, Jaguares, U20, U21, Sevens)
Canada
Chile
England
Fiji
France
Hong Kong
Ireland
Italy
Japan (Japan, U20, High School, Sevens)
Malaysia
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Russia
Scotland
South Africa (Springboks, Sevens)
Wales
Uruguay
United States of America (Eagles, Women, Sevens)

durkadurka

It was explained to me once that you go through the video and tag every event with four or five things 'scrum Ireland put in', 'won' 'boring by loosehead' or whatever , then you can call up any event or group of events at will.
Software costs a few grand.


A mate of mine filmed games for jackman when he was coaching ad they fed it all into this system.

A Disgrace

It also tracks each players movement, down to yards run, tackles etc, so as to ease or increase training as neccesary

nameandanumber

This video is probably everything you're looking for in relation to Macs and rugby.

The use of technology in pro-sport is pretty incredible...

http://youtu.be/r0Upwca0GUo

I can't embed it, maybe someone can show me?

nameandanumber

nameandanumber wrote: »

This video is probably everything you're looking for in relation to Macs and rugby.

The use of technology in pro-sport is pretty incredible...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0Upwca0GUo

fixed

Downtime

In some ways it acts like sky plus - they can pause and rewind the live feed from tv and they also use sportscode as already mentioned. I remember once a referee in a Magners game asking for a replay of an incident after the game and the Leinster guy came straight in and showed him - great technology.

hardCopy

I know in the Aviva there are large screens in the dressing rooms for the players to view clips with the video analyst at half time, these clips would be edited on the fly during play.

GerM

It really is remarkable the level of information and analysis that is available to coaches these days. There is probably more information and statistical analysis available to us internet warriors online today than there was to the coaches 10 years ago.

I recall at half time in the HEC final, Greg Feek took the forwards aside and they reviewed the first half scrums on his iPad which Feek had analysed during the game. They formulated their plan based on what they were viewing and how to correct the issues and went out and took apart Northampton. All in the space of a few minutes. I assume the video analyst works like a madman alongside the coaching staff to get this stuff together for them for half time and all ready to go on the iPad but it's amazing stuff.

durkadurka

There was a football match recently where it went to penalties and I think the man u goalie was able to analyse the oppositions penalty taking styles on an iPhone in the middle of the pitch while waking for the shooting to start.

Open to correction on the details of the story....

John_Rambo

Thanks for the replies everyone. I see the program seems to only work on the Apple platform, that is some amount of advertising for Apple! Every game, the logo comes up again and again, you couldn't get that exposure on the hoardings!

davegrohl48

Didn't know video analysis sometimes happens at half time. That was interesting, a good reply about Feek and Heineken final there.
I read where player manager John Healy playing in goal for Ballina in Championship in Mayo was talking to his selectors on a mobile phone during their game against Breaffy.
Wonder are there any teams monitoring heart rates during games? Don't think allowed wear those in a game?
One interesting fitness stat to have I would say is to get an estimate of at what point your scrum halfs speed n endurance starts to fade. Bound to be a big difference between a fresh 9 and a tired 9 running 50 yards to a breakdown. Ireland may go Reddan/Murray for this tournament. It makes sense. Reddans experience and confidence to start, then finish with Murrays speed and breaking ability.

GerM

davegrohl48 wrote: »

One interesting fitness stat to have I would say is to get an estimate of at what point your scrum halfs speed n endurance starts to fade. Bound to be a big difference between a fresh 9 and a tired 9 running 50 yards to a breakdown. Ireland may go Reddan/Murray for this tournament. It makes sense. Reddans experience and confidence to start, then finish with Murrays speed and breaking ability.

They use them in training. Players wear GPS trackers that monitor their heartrates, speeds, distance covered etc. They can't wear them in sanctioned games but I think the Leinster players wore them in pre-season friendlies. All the information is compiled onto a computer programme and displayed. The coaching staff should have a pretty good indication on the capabilities of the players and when they've hit their limit.

durkadurka

How do they count the metres carried or metres run? Is it by pure inspection - ie viewing it and estimating numbers of metres?

GerM

durkadurka wrote: »

How do they count the metres carried or metres run? Is it by pure inspection - ie viewing it and estimating numbers of metres?

Pretty sure a programme should be able to analyse that also on camera. We've all seen NFL clips where the pass or run has been tracked with a little dotted line and the distance shown or BBC in the 6N where they show the distance of a penalty like in this video at 30 seconds:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glj0O_EL3o4

I'm sure other people are more savvy and could give a better answer.

martybike

I remember hearing that when this technology came in Peter Schmeichel would get fed up hearing about the distance that outfield players would run during a match. So when the ball was down the far end of the pitch he would run back and forth to build up his distance. At the end of a game he would have run further than some of his team mates.

Don't know if its true, but it could be. And it goes to show stats can lie.

davegrohl48

Have to say when I looked at meters carried stats for teams I was suprised by how low they are. It seems 40 metres of carries is a big day at the office for a forward. A back maybe 70+ metres.
Never checked that till this World cup but was of the belief it would have been much higher.
The tackling stats can be deceptive, I mean yes a guy can have missed tackles but what if he is seeking out lots of tackles and putting himself in a position to make tackles. You make 13 tackles and miss 2 versus a player who makes 5 tackles and misses none.
For soccer stats it is often that referees that run further than a lot of outfield players. Just they don't have the high intensity runs.
More useful might be distance covered at speeds above 15kmhr, so getting towards 3/4 pace. Leaves out all the easy distance of walking and jogging.

durkadurka

Lies damned lies and statistics.

This should only be a support really. The eye should tell you a lot more.

Eg we could tell that mike Ross was sh@gged by looking at him!

Metres carried are misleading too. Like when nacewa catches on his own 22 and carries for 20 metres before being challenged. Contrast to sob who always takes it on the gainline.

The scrum stuff at the HEC final was gAme changing though.

GerM

davegrohl48 wrote: »

Have to say when I looked at meters carried stats for teams I was suprised by how low they are. It seems 40 metres of carries is a big day at the office for a forward. A back maybe 70+ metres.
Never checked that till this world cup but was of the belief it would have been much higher.
The tackling stats can be deceptive, I mean yes a guy can have missed tackles but what if he is seeking out lots of tackles and putting himself in a position to make tackles. You make 13 tackles and miss 2 versus a player who makes 5 tackles and misses none.

ESPN's stats for carries start at the gain line. If an outhalf stands deep and breaks through a rush defence before being tackle 1m past where the ball was passed from, he'll only get 1m despite having actually ran 10m. You'll nearly always see a back three player get the most yards because they field kicks and can run untouched for the first 10m quite often. 40m would be a serious return for a forward. If any player in the front five made that with ball in hand, it would be an exceptional performance.

Tackling stats can be misleading. A centre or a flanker will often have the highest count. Sometimes though you'll see someone like O'Callaghan make 16 tackles. He has a high work rate as a player but it's slanted because he's often the pillar defender on rucks so he's the one tackling pick and go ball. Also, ESPN's stats only credit one player for a tackle. For the Irish choke tackles where Best and DOC were holding up players repeatedly, only one of them would be awarded a tackle each time. It's can be quite inaccurate.

davegrohl48

True enough their durka. N I suppose what do they confirm really? I would say most people could make a list of Irelands forwards/backs who would have been tiring in the last fifteen minutes in most matches n you wouldn't need stats to do it. You'd just know from experience of watching those players in previous games and from just looking at their game speed on the pitch.
Forwards - Ross/DOC/POC tend to tire. Best as he works so hard does be shattered in last ten.
Backs - Reddan/Darcy/BOD tend to tire.
The rest of them too close to be bothered looking at, anyone off form take them off for that reason.
We have some players who simply do not run out of gas. Sexton/OGara could play extra time and be fine.

Ah so the metres ran are judged by the gainline. Cheers thought there was something amiss. Yes the fullbacks have a huge advantage then on those stats.

hardCopy

GerM wrote: »

Pretty sure a programme should be able to analyse that also on camera. We've all seen NFL clips where the pass or run has been tracked with a little dotted line and the distance shown or BBC in the 6N where they show the distance of a penalty like in this video at 30 seconds:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glj0O_EL3o4

I'm sure other people are more savvy and could give a better answer.

I did a bit of work with RTE during the 2009 Autumn Internationals.

At the time there was no "player level" stat tracking, i.e. we counted tackles per team but not per individual player.

We didn't track metres run or passed but we did calculate the distance of place kicks.

We used a computer program with a diagram of a pitch, the program was loaded up with exact dimensions of the particular pitch. We would wait until the camera panned out for a wide angle, as per 31 seconds into that Henson clip. Then we just clicked where we thought the ball was placed in relation to the 10, 15 and 22 metre lines and the computer estimated the distance.

At the time BBC were using a more advanced system but we were consistent with their calculations using the more manual method.

The only problem was that the wide angle shot was only shown for 2 or 3 seconds so occasionally the director would omit the distance graphic if we weren't quick enough with the calculations.

komodosp

They're playing EA Rugby '08

...and that's controlling the players on the pitch!

BoarHunter

A few teams play with a GPS chip stuck in their back. NZL, Australia have the system since 4 years i think France use it this year.

That gives the staff real time indication on who is doing what. Gives them Position, distance ran, speed and Heart beats of the players

Third_Echelon

durkadurka wrote: »

There was a football match recently where it went to penalties and I think the man u goalie was able to analyse the oppositions penalty taking styles on an iPhone in the middle of the pitch while waking for the shooting to start.

Open to correction on the details of the story....

pretty accurate alright. It was Ben Foster for united vs spurs in the Carling Cup final a couple of years ago

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/4904506/Ben-Foster-attributes-Carling-Cup-penalty-save-to-iPod-preparation.html

John_Rambo

John_Rambo wrote: »

Every game, the logo comes up again and again, you couldn't get that exposure on the hoardings!

Anyone notice that Mazda had covered the macs with their logo? Clever idea, not executed very well though! I reckon we will see all of macs product placement being covered or jostled for position.

rockman15

There was an article there over the past week in the Irish Times about incorporating the heart rate transmitter into the material of a jersey. Not like a band you wear in training, but into the fibres of a jersey. In effect the jersey acts as a transmitter for bio stats on an individual basis back to the comp. Only problem is as is previously mentioned stats can hide a lot if viewed in the wrong way.

Im surprised radios havent been installed in scrumcaps. The technology exists alright, they do it in the NFL for their hard helmets. Two receivers if I'm not mistaken.

hardCopy

rockman15 wrote: »

There was an article there over the past week in the Irish Times about incorporating the heart rate transmitter into the material of a jersey. Not like a band you wear in training, but into the fibres of a jersey. In effect the jersey acts as a transmitter for bio stats on an individual basis back to the comp. Only problem is as is previously mentioned stats can hide a lot if viewed in the wrong way.

Im surprised radios havent been installed in scrumcaps. The technology exists alright, they do it in the NFL for their hard helmets. Two receivers if I'm not mistaken.

Aren't radios specially banned though?

Nearly sure it came up during the fuss over Johnson "communicating" with his water bottle in 2003.

Monitoring stats is one thing but giving coaches the ability to align their defence from the stands would change the dynamic of the game IMO.

mrboswell

Wearable sensors have been in development for years.
It's not really sport that is driving their development though but more for military and insurance companies that want bio stats for various reasons - no surprise that most of the development funding comes from the US.

Professional sport has had nice gains from it.
Very much a training tool. Caches can see heart rates and GPS data to keep people training at optimum hear rate etc.

Re: the Mazda logo - you can bet that Mazda are paying for the Mazda logo to be displayed and Apple are not. Not surprising that the apple gets covered.