Firstly, this study aimed to identify which performance indicators (PIs) discriminate between winning and losing university-level Rugby Union (RU) teams and, secondly, to compare the significant PIs in both RU and Rugby Sevens (RS) at university level. Understanding the importance of PIs and their effect on match outcomes could assist the coaching staff to prioritise specific game aspects during training, leading to improved performance. Twenty randomly selected round-robin matches of the 2018 Varsity Cup (n = 20), and Varsity Sports sevens (n = 20) tournaments were analysed. A linear mixed model was used to determine statistically significant differences set at p <= 0.05, while effect size was reported according to Cohen`s d value. Results revealed that various PIs discriminated between winning and losing RU teams and that specific PIs could be observed as significant in RU and RS. Therefore, specific identified tactical aspects of RU and RS should be prioritised during training to optimise performance.
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