Two phases, two skill sets

Acceleration and top speed are different physical jobs. In a 300-player amateur club cohort timed through gates over 50 metres, most players hit their top speed somewhere between the 20 and 40 metre marks, and which end of that window they hit varied with age and position. So the first half of a 40 m test measures how fast you build speed and the second half measures the speed you built. In a national academy tested over the same distance, backs were quicker than forwards at every split except the first 10 metres, where forwards matched them, so the gap between positions only opens once players wind up towards top speed. Match sprinting is mostly shorter than the test as well: across rugby match analyses the most common sprint distances sit between 10 and 20 metres, and that is worth remembering when you decide where your training time goes.

What club players actually run

The times below come from amateur club players timed with photoelectric gates during two maximal 50 m sprints, with the best effort counted and each figure the average for its group. They are not cut-offs for any level, but they tell you what real club rugby runs, and they show two patterns worth knowing: backs outrun forwards at every age, and the average barely moves between under-18 and senior.

Running the test properly

Set your gates at 10 metre splits so you can read acceleration and top speed separately. Start in a two-point stance with your front foot half a metre behind the first gate, go in your own time, and sprint hard through the final gate rather than to it. National academy testing runs three maximal efforts with around five minutes of walking recovery between them and keeps the best one, and that is worth copying, because your best effort is the honest measure and short recoveries turn a speed test into a conditioning drill. For the start itself, stagger your feet, lean your shoulders ahead of your toes, and drive the ground away behind you for the first few steps before rising gradually as speed builds.

Training that has moved rugby sprint times

1. 1Sprinting itself. An under-19 academy squad that ran plain maximal sprints three times a week for four weeks improved its 30 m times, and a matched group towing heavy sleds did not improve unresisted times any further, so full-speed sprinting is the base and everything else is a supplement.
2. 2Resisted sled sprints. In a pooled analysis of 21 sprint-training studies, sled-resisted sprinting improved 10 m acceleration more than plain sprint training but did little extra for top speed. The elite rugby trial where sleds beat plain sprinting loaded them to about 13 per cent of body weight.
3. 3Strength work with plyometrics. Across 26 training studies of 644 semi-professional and professional rugby players, programmes that combined resistance training with plyometric and agility work produced the clearest sprint improvements, so keep lifting and bounding through a speed block rather than replacing them with it.
4. 4Flying sprints. Build up over about 20 metres and then hold maximal speed for the next stretch, with a full recovery between efforts. This is the standard way to expose yourself to top speed, which is what the last part of a 40 m test measures.
5. 5Small-sided games. Elite squads that trained speed through game-based drills improved their sprint times out to 40 metres, and you get the agility and decision work for free.

An eight-week speed block

The rugby training studies behind the methods above ran from four to eighteen weeks with an average of about eight, so eight weeks is a reasonable block to commit to before you retest. Sprint twice a week when you are fresh, keep the total number of maximal efforts small, and take walking recoveries of a few minutes so every rep is genuinely fast.

1. 1

   Acceleration emphasis

   Weeks 1–3

   Two sessions a week. One session of sled sprints over 20 metres with a load around 13 per cent of body weight, and one session of plain accelerations over 10 to 20 metres from a standing start. Record 10 m splits so you can see acceleration moving.

2. 2

   Mix in top speed

   Weeks 4–6

   Keep one acceleration session, and turn the other into flying sprints: build up over 20 metres, hold maximal speed for the next 20, and walk back between efforts. Finish the week with two or three full 40 m efforts.

3. 3

   Sharpen and retest

   Weeks 7–8

   Cut the volume, keep every effort maximal, and retest at the end: full warm-up, two practice starts, then three timed 40 m efforts with about five minutes between them. The best one counts, on the same surface and with the same timing setup as last time.