Stress and challenge appraisals of acute taxing events in rugby

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine stress and challenge appraisals during rugby games. Competitive rugby players (n=107) reported stress and challenge appraisals of thirty acute potentially taxing events in preseason, regular season, and playoff rugby games. Profile analyses (MANOVA) identified the most and least stressful and challenging events. Events in playoff games were appraised as more stressful and challenging than those in preseason and regular season games. Analyses also revealed that differences in appraisals between game contexts were not equal for all event types. Furthermore, two events were perceived as more stressful than challenging, five events were more challenging than stressful, and three events were equally stressful and challenging. Potential applications and future research directions are discussed.