ABSTRACT
Rugby union is a sport that is more than 150 years old. It is one of the most popular contact team sports in the world, played at the professional, amateur, and junior levels by both males and females in nearly 200 countries across the Northern and Southern Hemispheres (www. worldrugby.org). The Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition, attracts a global TV audience of more than 5 billion viewers, with the New Zealand All Blacks being the current holders of the trophy at the time of this writing. The sport also has a rich tradition of promoting strong cultural and societal values, including teamwork, discipline, respect, enjoyment, and sportsmanship.
