ENGLAND and New Zealand will wear special gum shields which measure the impact of collisions in their upcoming women’s Test matches, World Rugby has announced.

The devices, which gather data around every impact when players collide with each other or with the ground, will be worn by the teams in the games on October 31 and November 7 and in training sessions around those matches. The devices even record impacts not directly involving the head.

The study sits alongside community work using the same devices in Otago, New Zealand, to provide a detailed picture of head impacts at all levels of the women’s game.