Players at the upcoming Women's Rugby World Cup will sport high-tech mouthguards that light up red when they suffer heavy head impacts, in a move aimed at improving player safety and reducing concussion, the sport's governing body World Rugby confirmed.
The smart gumshields will send an alert to the matchday doctor warning of possible concussions during the 22 August to 27 September tournament in England, while referees will be advised to stop play upon seeing the red flash.
The LED mouthguards are set to be implemented in top-flight rugby next season following the World Cup, British media reported.
The technology builds on World Rugby's introduction of smart mouthguards as part of the Head Injury Assessment (HIA) process in October 2023, which debuted in the WXV competition that year before being integrated into the HIA from January 2024.
"If you want to be involved in the off-field assessment, you need to be wearing the mouthguard, so there are male players who opt out of getting an off-field HIA because they don't want to wear an instrumented mouthguard," Dr Eanna Falvey, chief medical officer at World Rugby, was quoted as saying by The Times.
"We've had players who decided that they don't like the fact that it's a Bluetooth device, we've had players that feel it's uncomfortable, we've had players who don't want to know.
"The women's leagues and teams and competitions, I don't know the reason for it, but they're much more likely to collaborate, they're much more accepting and excited about opportunities in technology.
"We have full opt-in for the World Cup now. There are two people wearing braces so they physically can't wear it, but other than that we're full opt-in."
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