• Rugby Ready key to player welfare best practice worldwide
• Over 370,000 users from 208 countries have accessed best-practice material
• Relaunched site offers enhanced user accessibility 

Player welfare best practice promotion is the philosophy behind enhancements to the International Rugby Board’s popular Rugby Ready online resource, which has been relaunched today. 

Comprehensive coaching videos, enhanced online assessments and the development of a new fitness section have all been introduced to the innovative resource which is available in six languages online and promotes the best techniques for Rugby preparation, playing, coaching, refereeing and administration. 

The resource, which is free to access via www.irbrugbyready.com, is the premier vehicle for the IRB and its Member Unions in driving global Rugby preparation education and has been accessed by over 370,000 players, coaches, referees and administrators from 208 countries since going live in 2007. 

So far 82,000 members of the Rugby family have registered on the site and a further 53,000 have undertaken the online best-practice test. 

Complementing the site, the IRB and accredited Member Unions have run practical courses in 24 countries with over 5,000 face to face courses, promoting consistency and best-practice player welfare techniques. The IRB intends to increase exposure and roll out the programme across more countries in 2012 as a key element of its player welfare strategy. 

IRB Training and Medical Manager Mark Harrington said: “Everyone has a duty of care to those playing the Game and Rugby Ready has developed into an invaluable resource for the global Rugby family and is designed for individual coaches, players, referees, administrators and Unions in preparing to play the Game with the best possible practice models for physical conditioning, technique, injury prevention and injury management." 

“IRB Rugby Ready has also proven a hit in developing Rugby nations such as India, Mexico, Brazil, Spain, Chile, Colombia and Russia and Member Unions continue to promote its use as part of their educational programmes. It is therefore a critical tool as Rugby reaches out to new communities around the world.” 

The IRB has also relaunched www.irbpassport.com, which allows nearly 130,000 registered coaches and match officials who have completed IRB courses to access the IRB’s suite of educational websites and materials. New features include a dedicated extranet for over 1,000 licensed IRB Trainers and Educators and a forum to exchange information and opinion. 

"IRB Rugby Ready heads up an ever expanding portfolio of innovative free-to-access multilingual online resources for the Rugby family. In addition to Rugby Ready, there are the IRB Coaching, IRB Laws and Keep Rugby Clean online education resources available for free to the global Rugby family," added Harrington. 

IRB ONLINE RESOURCES: 

www.irbrugbyready.com delivers Rugby playing and preparation best practice
www.irbplayerwelfare.com is a global resource for player welfare and medical information
www.irbpassport.com is a one stop resource for IRB registered coaches and match officials
www.irbcoaching.com is a key resource for developing novice coaching skills.
www.irblaws.com was launched in May 2009 and provides users with an interactive platform to learn the Laws of the Game.
www.irbkeeprugbyclean.com was launched in November 2009 to support Anti-doping education.