Packer acclaims new Catapult partnership that brings world-leading technology to every Premiership Women’s Rugby club

Marlie Packer has today acclaimed a new partnership that ensures players and clubs in Premiership Women’s Rugby will benefit from a new innovative athlete monitoring technology and video integration system.

Developed by Catapult, the global leader in sports technology solutions for professional teams, the strategic partnership marks a significant milestone in advancing athlete performance in women’s rugby.

Packer, the Saracens Women’s co-captain, said: “As a player, having access to detailed performance insights like this is a game-changer for us and ensures that players across all Premiership Women's Rugby teams can operate at the highest level.

"Catapult athlete monitoring technology will allow us to track our progress, manage our workload, and refine our skills in ways we couldn’t before as we play in the best women's league in the world.

"It’s exciting to know that we’re supported by tools designed to prioritise both our performance and our long-term health. This partnership is helping us elevate our game and align with the highest standards in rugby.”

The new partnership, which spans Premiership Women’s Rugby, the Rugby Football Union, and Premiership Rugby, will bring Catapult’s innovative athlete monitoring technology and video integration to rugby union in England.

As the preferred provider of athlete monitoring technology, Catapult will make available to the men’s and women’s national teams, Premiership Rugby, and Premiership Women’s Rugby teams its full performance analysis suite, including the Catapult Vector System, offering a comprehensive understanding of both team and individual performance. 

The integration of Catapult Vector with MatchTracker gives coaches a detailed visualisation of on-field dynamics, allowing them to sort, filter, and rapidly access insights, enabling practitioners and coaching staff to identify patterns and trends in player performance. Additionally, Focus captures multi-angle video and data during games and practices, enhancing decision-making and tactical adjustments. 

Together, these tools will empower the Rugby Football Union, Premiership Rugby, and Premiership Women’s Rugby practitioners and coaches to make informed choices on strategy, athlete performance, and injury management.

“We are excited to begin this new partnership with three of the world’s most respected rugby organisations, the Rugby Football Union, Premiership Rugby, and Premiership Women’s Rugby,” said Kieran Dannatt, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Development of Catapult. 

“By investing in Catapult’s technology, the Rugby Football Union, Premiership Rugby, and Premiership Women’s Rugby are building a sustainable model for the future of rugby. This partnership ensures that the Rugby Football Union, Premiership Rugby, and Premiership Women’s Rugby teams have cutting-edge technology that enhances both team and individual athlete performance and player care, further solidifying English rugby’s position as a leader in rugby innovation.”

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The agreement also includes the Catapult Vector Rugby Analytics Suite, Elite Vests with integrated heart rate, and ClearSky Local Positioning System (LPS) to further enhance player performance tracking and analysis. The Catapult Vector Rugby Analytics Suite is specifically designed for rugby, employing advanced algorithms to monitor key actions such as scrums, kicks, lineout jumps, and contact involvements. 

The Elite Vest for women athletes optimises sensor placement for improved heart rate signal quality, while the Elite Vest for men athletes enhances fit and data accuracy with an inlaid chest band that stabilises sensors during intense movement. ClearSky LPS will be installed in national team venues, including the Allianz Stadium and Honda England Rugby Performance Centre, in addition to a number of domestic training venues, including for teams such as Bristol Bears and Gloucester Rugby, providing low-latency, real-time data during training and matches.

With Catapult, the Rugby Football Union, Premiership Rugby, and Premiership Women’s Rugby will gain significant advantages in data management and sharing across club, league, and game levels. Each national and domestic team using Catapult will establish its own performance thresholds and operational zones, enabling tailored training strategies throughout the season. 

This data will seamlessly synchronise with the league’s and domestic team’s overall data architecture, enhancing information flow and improving insights across all levels of rugby. Additionally, Rugby Football Union, Premiership Rugby, and Premiership Women’s Rugby players will benefit from consolidating their performance data directly to Catapult OpenField Cloud. This integration will enable enhanced performance analysis, strategic planning, and collaboration across teams, leagues and the National Governing Body.

“It has been a long-time objective to align player tracking technology across all areas of the professional game,” said Duncan Locke, Head of Technical Performance at the Rugby Football Union. 

“The partnership between the Rugby Football Union, Premiership Rugby, Premiership Women’s Rugby and Catapult will provide players and practitioners access to a range of best-in-class products to optimise how players are managed and drive game-wide insights through standardised data capture and integrated data and video analysis.

“Utilising Catapult ClearSky technology, we can now monitor performance with unprecedented precision. This not only elevates individual and team performance understanding but also supports player management through consistently and efficiently capturing and monitoring player workloads and movement patterns across all club and international environments, aligning with the Rugby Football Union’s commitment to player welfare and safety.”

To learn more about Catapult’s solutions for Rugby, visit https://www.catapult.com/sports/rugby.