Along with technology company Sportable, we have launched the world’s first ‘smart rugby ball’, making its first appearance at the RugbyX tournament held at the O2 Arena, London. 

The ball tracking technology was used to capture the fastest ball carriers, the longest, fastest passes and spin rate and hang-time in real time. As well this, the referee's could be alerted if players breached RugbyX’s 10m kick height restriction. 

Further features of the smart rugby ball include forward pass detection and offside players. 

Dugald Macdonald, CEO, Sportable said: “It was fantastic to be a part of the super-charged RugbyX tournament to see the innovations that we have honed over the past four years live in action at such a major event. With Sportable we want to revolutionize the way people engage with sport, both on and off the pitch- combining the athleticism of real life on field action with data driven insights. RugbyX was a perfect opportunity to see this come together.”

Harry Horsley from RugbyX said: “One of our aims in developing RugbyX was to push boundaries and take the sport to a new level and working with Sportable allowed us to do just that. The instant data feed from the live on-pitch-action not only allowed us to seamlessly officiate our new 10m kick height restriction but also enhanced the experience for fans. It will be exciting to see this technology throughout rugby and other sports.”