Rugby Body Armour and Shoulder Pads Buyers Guide
Why use body armour?
Some of the most popular reasons to use body armour and shoulder pads include:
- Minimising Impacts. Contact sports always put stress on your body, all Gilbert body armour has been designed to minimise the impacts of regular contact training on your body.
- Recovery Between Sessions. Recovery between matches and contact training is often short - 48 hours or so. Therefore, it is important to minimise impacts on your body so you can fully recover between sessions.
- Injury Recovery. Wearing body armour when recovering from short or long term injuries help to build your confidence and integrate you back into contact training.
BUYING THE RIGHT RUGBY BODY ARMOUR FOR YOU DEPENDS ON THE FOLLOWING FACTORS:
1. Where you want padding - we have models available from only 3 pads across your shoulders and chest, to 13 pads across your body
2. Style & Material - what style best suits my style and game? Do I want hi-tec, compression, fast wicking etc.?
3. Size & Fit - what size do I need? Do I want it tight fitting or looser?
4. Budget - how much do I want to spend ?
SHOULDER PADDING SYSTEMS
Gilbert use a number of padding systems in the range
Pro XP Premium Padding
We use our premium PRO XP padding on the XP1000, XP500 and XP300 which utilises a body mapping impact absorbing EVA system providing excellent freedom of movement.
Foam Padding
A solid foam padding system is used in the Charger for the player looking for the ultimate protection or a much lighter more flexible option in the zone padding systemised on the Atomic V3.
Classic Triflex System
The Triflex Womens Lite uses a classic Gilbert Triflex system consisting of interlocking triangle foam allowing excellent freedom of movement.
WORLD RUGBY APPROVED
All Gilbert Rugby body armour and shoulder padding is officially World Rugby Approved. This means that all models have been previously tested in a laboratory by a recognized World Rugby Test House to ensure they meet the requirements set out in World Rugby specification.
World Rugby testing requirements cover a number of areas, including: Ergonomics, Construction, Materials, Design, Sizing, Performance Requirements and many more.
TECHNICAL FEATURES
What technical features does Gilbert body armour have?
HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPRESSION FABRIC
The XP1000 and XP500 models benefit from a high performance compression fabric to support muscles and improve circulation for enhanced performance.
3D MOULDED PADDING SYSTEM
The XP1000, XP500, XP300 and Triflex Lite all benefit from the Gilbert 3D moulded triangular padding system. A classic Gilbert triflex system consisting of interlocking triangle foam allowing excellent freedom of movement.
CHEST PADDING
All Gilbert body armour models include a moulded and strategically placed chest pad, for an optimal ergonomic fit and maximum padding. The Triflex Lite Women's model includes breast padding in place of centre chest padding.
OUR HOT PADS RIGHT NOW
Out Top 3 most popular body armour right now.
TRIFLEX LITE
Introducing the Triflex Women’s Lite body armour. Developed exclusively for women's rugby. the perfect body armour for women looking for added security for key impact areas of the upper body. With the 3D moulded triangular system, this body armour provides the excellent flexibility and cover to ensure impact is absorbed when making contact.
XP 1000
The XP1000 provides 12 strategically placed pads across the arms, chest and back to provide coverage across the biceps, sternum, kidneys and ribs, plus a large back padding for added armour when tackling or being tackled. The ultimate body armour you can trust on the rugby pitch. The XP1000 has a 3D moulded system providing ultimate flexibility and coverage acting like a second skin, whilst maintaining impact absorption. Available in Senior and Junior.
XP 300
With 5 strategically placed pads covering the shoulders, biceps and sternum, the reasonably priced XP300 offers safety where your children need it most. Constructed with fastwickx dry fabric designed to accelerate the pull of moisture away from the skin’s surface keeping the body dry and eliminating the chill effect. Available in Senior and Junior.
SIZE
Gilbert provide a variety of sizes both adult, junior and female sizes ranging from size Small Childs to 2 Extra Large.
*Size ranges vary depending on model.
