High Match Load's Relation to Decreased Well-Being During an Elite Women's Rugby Sevens Tournament

To determine changes in wellbeing, recovery and neuromuscular performance during and after an elite women's rugby sevens tournament and assess the influence of match load indicators. Twelve elite women rugby sevens players (age 25.3±4.1 y, height 169.0±4.0 cm, weight 63.9±4.9 kg, body fat 18.6±2.7 %) performed 5 matches during a two-day tournament of the Women's Rugby Sevens World Series. Perceived wellbeing (fatigue, sleep quality, general muscle soreness, stress levels, mood), total quality of recovery (TQR), and countermovement-jump flight time (CMJ) were measured on match day 1 (MD1), match day 2 (MD2), 1 day post-tournament (D+1) and 2 days post-tournament (D+2). Total distance, low-, moderate- and high-intensity-running (HIR) and physical contacts (PC) during matches were derived of GPS based time-motion analysis and video-based notational analysis, respectively. Internal match load was calculated by session-rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and playing time (RPE x duration). Wellbeing (p