Why Pre-hab Should Be a Priority in Rugby Performance Training (But Usually Isn’t)
In the world of rugby performance, there's a huge emphasis on heavy lifting — maxing out squats, deadlifts, and pressing big numbers in the gym. And while strength is undoubtedly essential for performance and injury resilience, there's a glaring gap in many training programs: pre-habilitation.
Prehab refers to proactive exercises and strategies designed to prevent injury before it happens. And in a sport like rugby, where collisions, rapid direction changes, and high muscular loads are the norm, prehab isn’t just optional — it’s essential.
🧠 The Problem: Strength Culture Over Prehab
Walk into most rugby gyms and you’ll see players chasing PBs on the barbell. But how many of them are training tibialis anterior flexion, hamstring eccentric control, or even ankle and knee stability?
Too often, the warm-up is rushed, mobility work is skipped, and prehab is seen as “rehab” — something you only do when you’re injured. This mindset is flawed. A 2020 study by van Dyk et al. showed that a proactive approach to injury prevention can reduce soft tissue injury risk by over 30%, especially when eccentric exercises are included in programming (1).
✅ Prehab Exercises Every Rugby Player Should Include:
1. Nordic Hamstring Curls
One of the most evidence-backed injury prevention tools, the Nordic curl targets the hamstrings eccentrically — exactly the type of contraction most hamstring strains occur in during sprinting and decelerating.
Why it’s useful: Reduces hamstring injury risk, improves sprint capacity.
Evidence: The FIFA 11+ and other programs have shown up to a 51% reduction in hamstring injuries when Nordic curls are regularly used (2).
2. Anterior Tibialis Flexion (Tib Raises)
Often neglected, the tibialis anterior plays a crucial role in ankle stability, deceleration, and sprint mechanics.
Why it’s useful: Helps prevent shin splints, reduces risk of ankle sprains, improves sprinting mechanics.
How to do it: Use a tib bar or resistance band to dorsiflex against resistance. Focus on high reps and controlled eccentric lowering.
3. Weighted Step Downs (Knee-Control Focus)
This is a killer for developing knee stability, especially through the VMO and hip stabilisers — essential for deceleration, tackling, and cutting.
Why it’s useful: Builds knee control and eccentric strength, reduces ACL and patellar tendinopathy risk.
Form Tip: Keep hips square, control the descent, don’t let the knee collapse inward.
4. Banded External Rotations & Scapular Work
Shoulder injuries are common in rugby, especially in contact situations. Building shoulder integrity through cuff work and scapular control can bulletproof a player.
Why it’s useful: Supports overhead pressing, improves tackling robustness, reduces rotator cuff injuries.
📉 What Happens When You Don’t Prehab?
Ignoring prehab can lead to overuse injuries, poor joint integrity, and eventually, time away from the pitch. As the saying goes, “If you don’t make time for your wellness, you’ll be forced to make time for your illness.”
And in rugby, that often means missed games, slower rehab, and lost progress.
🚀 How to Implement Prehab Without Killing Time
Prehab doesn’t need to be a 30-minute session. It can be integrated into warm-ups, cool-downs, or even supersetted between big lifts. For example:
Superset squats with tib raises.
Superset RDLs with Nordic negatives.
Add 1–2 knee control or hip stability drills to warm-up protocols.
Just 10–15 minutes, 2–3 times a week can make a massive difference.
📚 Reference List:
van Dyk, N., et al. (2020). Preseason eccentric training reduces hamstring injury in professional soccer: A randomized controlled trial. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 54(20), 1161-1167.
Petersen, J., et al. (2011). Preventive effect of eccentric training on acute hamstring injuries in men’s soccer: a cluster-randomized controlled trial. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 39(11), 2296–2303.
🗣 Final Thoughts
If you’re a rugby player (or coach) not already programming dedicated prehab work, now’s the time to start. Chasing strength is important — but staying healthy and available to play is what really moves performance forward.
Don’t wait for an injury to start taking care of your body. Build it into the program now, and watch your strength, speed, and resilience level up together.