ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the evolution of social cohesion within a rugby team during an international competition. Thirty players in a women’s rugby union national team filled out a sociometric questionnaire pertaining to their perceptions of the social preferences among them. The data were collected twice during the six-week competition. Because of the coaches’ changes to the team, 14 of the 30 players completed the questionnaire twice, eight other players completed it before the first match, and eight others completed it before the last match. Our results indicate that (1) intragroup social cohesion evolved positively between the beginning and the end of the competition for the 14 players who were selected for the whole tournament; (2) the length of the competition had a negative impact on cohesion between subgroups constituted with regard to the players’ ages; and (3) the number of caps has a more significant influence on cohesion than age or position played.