Rugby simulation reveals game technique

The Queen's University's School of Psychology project, developed by Professor Cathy Craig, uses virtual reality to understand how expert players deal with deceptive movement on the field of play.

Professor Craig and others have spent the past two years on the project, enlisting the help of players from the French National League and the heroes of Ulster rugby.

"In both the natural and the sporting world, the movement of the body is used to deceive. Whether it's a lion chasing a zebra or a defender trying to catch an attacker on a rugby pitch, deceptive movement helps to gain a competitive advantage and beat an opponent," Professor Craig explained.

"The side-step in rugby is an excellent example of how an attacker uses the movement of the body to trick a defender into thinking they're going in one direction when they really intend to go in the opposite direction."

In her new 'Movement Innovation Lab' at the Physical Education Centre at Queen's, she has created her own virtual rugby stadium, using computer simulations of real-time action on the pitch.

Both professionals and novice players have been taking part but Professor Craig said the professionals are not as easily fooled by simulation.

"The less experienced players are more likely to be taken in by deceptive movement but the professionals focus on what we call honest signals - what the opposing player's body is doing, rather than the clever footwork," she said.

She also said that the research suggested that what a player wears could make a difference in game play.

"For example a team that wears an all-black strip but fluorescent boots, could attract attention away from the honest signals - ie the pelvis area and towards the deceptive signals - the placement of the foot," she explained.

Professor Craig is an international specialist in the study of movement and perception and also plays rugby herself - she is a fly half - and has represented Ulster.

This work is part of a much larger project that aims to understand how perceptual information picked up by the brain is used to guide action.