Last week the London Irish Rugby club was in the United States for a match against Saracens, which took place at Red Bull Arena on March 12, 2016. Brian O'Leary, Head of Medical Services for the London Irish Rugby Club, spoke at Atlantic Sports Health in Morristown, New Jersey about the latest athlete health and safety management in professional rugby. Being an employee of Atlantic Sports Health, I took it upon myself to invite Brian and his colleague Nick Hess, Senior Physiotherapist, to do an interview and talk about trends in health and safety in their sport and how it can help improve safety in other sports like American Football. Brian and Nick were both former rugby players themselves and they start off by talking about what led them to become Physiotherapists and what they loved most about the sport. It was interesting to see the similarities in cultures between rugby and American football. Brian and Nick both mentioned how the core values of respect, discipline, toughness and physicality were what they loved most about the sport. These same values are the reason why I and millions of people around the US love American football so much. Brian mentioned how there was recently a push over in England to ban tackling in youth rugby similar to the idea of forbidding tackle football until kids reach high school age. We all were in agreement that we don't believe this is the answer to making the games safer. Brian O'Leary (Left) and Nick Hess (Right) Later in the interview Brian and Nick talk about the data they collect on each athlete to monitor their overall wellbeing in an effort to prevent injuries. For example, the London Irish players all wear GPS devices to measure there milage for the day and t
