Game’s brutal toll Study predicts major rise in number of hurt players

Aviva Premiership clubs are likely to see a significant increase in the number of injuries suffered this season after a brutal start to the domestic campaign, according to research conducted by

The Daily Telegraph.

The issue of player welfare is dominating the sport, particularly after the likes of Billy Vunipola, Manu Tuilagi and Danny Cipriani suffered long-term injuries.

And the

Telegraph can reveal that 10 of the 12 Premiership clubs have suffered a combined 82 injuries to first-team players since the start of

the season, suggesting that the overall figure will be far higher than the most recent Professional Rugby Injury Surveillance Project.

Two Premiership sides, Newcastle Falcons and Sale Sharks, declined to reveal how many injuries they have sustained to date but the other 10 clubs did on the condition we did not reveal their individual figures.

The injury rate so far enables the Telegraph to project an expected 779 injuries over the course of the season for those 10 clubs, if the trend continues.

When using that as an average to include the remaining two clubs, the total projected figure for all 12 clubs is 935.

That’s higher than the 751 injuries recorded by the RFU’S injury audit for the 2015-16 season, the latest for which there are figures available.