As technology and sport get ever more intertwined, the question inevitably arises around just how useful the former can be.
This is especially true in rugby, a game which at the end of the day is still mainly about two teams of 15 smashing into each other.
However the game is seeing somewhat of a tech revolution in recent months, and I headed to London’s swanky Lensbury Hotel to try it out for myself.
Getting smart
As well as being a common presence in businesses of all sizes with its accountancy and financial platforms, Sage will be a familiar sight to rugby fans, having been the power behind a wealth of on-screen statistics in televised matches for some time.
But it has also helped support Sportable, the company behind the technology embedded into the ball itself in order to help provide the most accurate statistics and information in real time.
Sportable has developed a chip situated within the match ball which can send low-latency, real-time data to be used by coaches, broadcasters, and even the players themselves.
After a briefing on the technical side of the ball, I got to head out to the pristine training pitches at the Lensbury (often used by visiting sides for Men’s 6 Nations games at nearby Twickenham) to give it a go alongside Welsh rugby legend, fly-half Dan Biggar.
Having last played competitive rugby at secondary school, you can probably guess who recorded the most accurate and powerful kicks, as well as the fastest-spinning and longest passes, but the demos showed us how quickly data from the ball was transmitted back to the system, for immediate use.
As soon as a kick takes place, the data is broadcast, supported by an ultrawide-band sensor network that can operate both in a stadium, and out in the open, and can be carried in as little as two suitcases.
There is automatic detection of the ball in flight, with pass detection, kick detection, and flight detection algorithms combining data from the sensors, and an inertial measurement device, for instant visualization of distance, speed and time.
And this flexibility and affordability means the technology could be useful to teams at several levels of the league pyramid – although you’re unlikely to see it at any Sunday morning amateur games any time soon.
There are definitely parallels between the smart ball technology, which can provide useful insights to professional and semi-pro teams alike, and Sage’s bid to empower SMBs with the latest AI tools, says Sally Moore, Senior Director, Global Sponsorship Leader, Sage.
“As we think about how we democratize high performance within small business – we’re giving them those productivity skills that help them to absolutely fly,” she says, “no one starts a business to do their accounts, and so we can take away the admin burden through our AI, so that they can actually do the thing they want to do.”
“We’re additive to a sport that fans love, and therefore we’re telling the story about what we can do for your business,” she adds, “we are bringing new data and insights to sport in the same way that we do for business.”
Biggar agrees, stating, “the stats are vital to what you produce on a week-to-week basis – you want to improve everything, and the whole point of the stats and data is giving you something as a baseline or something that you can judge yourself off and beat.”
“There’s always a goal, with the stats there.”
“If I was a 17/18 year old starting all over again, I’d be desperate for something like this in my game,” Biggar continues, “rugby will stand the test of time, in that it still has the flexibility and freedom… people are going to the analysis guys, saying give us more information – and thinking, how can we gain, even 1%”
“You have to have a feel, an understanding of what works for you – but also, when you have so much data and insight available to you, I just find it incredible how people don’t make use of it!”
“Rugby sports careers are short – so why would you want to miss out on opportunities if you’ve got the data, the stats, the live feedback?”
And with technology in sport under increasing scrutiny (we’re looking at you, VAR), Raphael Brandon, Director of Performance Science, Sportable, notes there is an increasing demand from broadcasters and fans alike for accurate, informative statistics.
With an average of 452 events per match across the Men’s Six Nations in 2025, the need for quick analysis is vital for everyone from coaches to fans watching on TV.
The technology isn’t intrusive to the flow of the game, either, Moore notes, which could be particularly useful for a sport like rugby, which does have a lot of specialized terminology that can put off new fans.
“To have technology that actually simplifies rather than interrupts, is the key to the fan experience.”
“The ball technology is well matured now,” Brandon notes, highlighting the data output and accurate position tracking capabilities as signs the accuracy is continually being improved, “it’s a well-trodden path, but we will be as accurate, if not slightly more accurate, than competitor brands.”
“The technology allows high-performing, mastery-seeking players like Dan to perfect their game,” he adds.
“So when you make technology available to a sport, it’s then down to them how much a team or an individual gets out of it – the data is there, the physical tracking is ubiquitous in all the team sports.
“This isn’t going back in the bottle, all we’re really adding is the ball,” he concludes, “we’re giving something that is quite fundamental to the effectiveness of an individual player’s contribution, or how a team operates as a whole.”
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