IRFU Partner With The Sports Office For Performance Management Tech Solution
In-form winger Keith Earls runs in Ireland's bonus point try during Sunday's Six Nations victory over France at the Aviva Stadium ©INPHO/James Crombie
The Irish Rugby Football Union is to partner with The Sports Office who will supply a Performance Management System for all high performance representative teams in Ireland.
All four provinces and national teams will benefit from ‘The Rugby Squad’, The Sports Office’s bespoke system for elite rugby organisations. Both the Men’s and Women’s senior teams, plus all age-grade squads will be managed together in one centralised hub.
The full ‘Rugby Squad’ system includes modules to support coaching, sports science, medicine, finance, admin and scouting. IRFU video and performance analysis staff will also be able to combine their work with other departments to maximise the potential of all players within Irish Rugby’s elite player pathway.
The Rugby Squad allows effective monitoring and management of every player’s training load plus their coaching minutes and well-being. It also enables the creation of individual development plans for each player and the ongoing monitoring of these. This will enhance player tracking and development of all IRFU teams.
The newly-released Sports Office App will assist all users, including staff and players in managing their own schedules, development and well-being. Communication between provincial and national staff and athletes are enhanced with instant messaging functionality and documents.
The IRFU will also use ‘The Rugby Squad’ to support talent identification and to also plan for the future with the system’s detailed view of available playing resources.
IRFU Performance Director David Nucifora commented:
Irish Rugby have for years now placed their player management programme at the forefront of their strategy for both developing and supporting our professional players. In continually looking at ways to improve our player management and player development strategies we have made a decision to align ourselves in a partnership with ‘The Sports Office’.
“As we strive to be world leading in the area of athlete management and development, we believe that our partnership with The Sports Office will enable us to achieve this ambition.”
The Sports Office Senior Client Support Manager Stuart Jones added:
The IRFU recognise that player development throughout the Academy to on-the-pitch performance is the most important thing. They have chosen our system to provide the framework to support every department in reaching their full potential.
“We are delighted to be working with them and we look forward to supporting the implementation of Rugby Squad within their teams and playing structures.
“Irish teams are recognised as being among the best in world rugby and we believe our system can enhance their efforts to continuously improve and optimise all aspects of performance and preparation.”
Many elite rugby organisations throughout the world are among The Sports Office’s varied client base. These include governing bodies such as Argentina Rugby Union, teams in the SANZAR Super Rugby competition and the Australian NRL. The full system implementation of ‘The Rugby Squad’ will begin this month.