This extension further represents Scottish Rugby’s desire and commitment to be at the forefront of player welfare through a commitment to research across all levels of the game.

Scottish Rugby will continue to build on the initial partnership, launched in June 2021, which saw a working group established with members of its performance and medical departments collaborate to better understand and educate on what is a very fast moving technology space.

The relationship with transformative, concussion management technology company, HITIQ Limited, has focused on both education to players and Scottish Rugby employees, and on player feedback on device fit and feel, to better integrate this vital new technology.

The partnership has already allowed full coverage to be offered to the Scotland Women national side earlier this summer, allowing all players the opportunity to use the technology to review data from matches at recent international competitions.

In the next stage of the partnership HITIQ’s 2023 Nexus iMG head impact sensor technology will be used in a trial across selected Scottish Rugby programmes, including Scotland Men, Scotland Women, Scotland U20s and Edinburgh Rugby.

The aim is that this continues to build robust data sets across multiple programmes to help improve understanding from both matches and training, before hopefully contributing to future discussions on player welfare and performance planning.

This collaboration will span the entirety of the 2023 Six Nations and United Rugby Championships competitions, with the latter concluding in June 2023.

Scottish Rugby’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr James Robson, said about the continuing trial: “We are committed to player welfare at the heart of everything we do. We are delighted to continue with HITIQ offering cutting edge technology to help us deepen our understanding of how contact is experienced by players. We are committed to supporting further research in this important area and look forward to seeing the learnings from this next phase of our partnership across the different playing groups involved.”

HITIQ Managing Director Mike Vegar commented: ““HITIQ is delighted to continue our partnership with Scottish Rugby. In addition to being a rugby powerhouse, Scotland are progressive in their efforts to make their game as safe as possible. We are looking forward to equipping Scottish Rugby players with the latest generation of our sensor technology as they compete in their upcoming internationals and the 6 Nations Championship.”

Pictured: Rachel McLachlan wearing a HITIQ mouthguard in the 2022 TIKTOK Women’s Six Nations

About HITIQ

HITIQ Limited (ASX: HIQ) operates in the healthcare equipment sector, providing and further developing a transformative, end-to-end concussion management technology platform. This platform aims to provide a total concussion ecosystem whereby the Company’s products support the identification, monitoring and management of sport related brain injury. HITIQ’s product suite utilises high-end technology that will span multiple domains – from early detection and surveillance to assessment and rehabilitation technology tools.