Analysis of Cardiorespiratory Endurance Differences Across Playing Positions of Collegiate Rugby 15s Players in Kenya
Elvis Onyango Okoth, Jane Kamau, Gitahi Theuri, Lucy-Joy Wachira · Journal of Life Science and Public Health · 2026
A high level of aerobic fitness has been shown to improve an athlete’s ability to perform consistently and prevent fatigue that may cause injuries. The present study profiled elite collegiate rugby players’ cardiorespiratory status by their playing positions. The study focused on peak maximal oxygen consumption (VO2peak) and Lactate threshold (LT) of collegiate Rugby players in an effort to highlight the
Significance: of cardiorespiratory endurance in rugby performance and rugby positional requirements. The study used a pre-test post-test experimental
Design: and recruited 31 Kenyatta University rugby 15s players. Players were randomly stratified by playing positions, Forwards and Backs. The Bruce protocol test was used in the testing of VO2peak and Lactate threshold pre- and post 8 weeks of cardiorespiratory endurance conditioning programs. The
Results: show that the Backs had a mean pre-intervention peak oxygen consumption of 47.808 ml/min/kg (SD =4.979) and a mean post-intervention peak oxygen consumption of 48.990 (SD = 5.361), higher than that of the forwards of 43.577 ml/min/kg (SD = 4.743) and 44.237 ml/min/kg (SD = 4.778), respectively. LT
Findings: indicated that Backs had a mean pre intervention lactate threshold of 3.788 (SD = 0.682) and a mean post intervention lactate threshold of 4.322 (SD = 0.883) while forwards had 3.300 (SD = 0.682) and 3.9154 (SD = 0.86105) respectively. Indicating that backline players have a higher VO2peak and LT than Forward players. These
findings help to support the development of position-specific conditioning programmes and may inform talent identification criteria for collegiate and elite rugby teams.