A programme of this kind can never work if it does not have an effective evidence-base to guide it in the right direction. BokSmart aims to assist in establishing effective injury surveillance protocols on a National level, and monitor injury trends around the country.

The Serious Injury protocol is already one of these initiatives. Research is important to measure the outcome measures of change and effect and also provides scientific credibility to the programme.

BokSmart has already surveyed the current knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of players regarding rugby safety, injury prevention and injury management at secondary/high school level and at senior club level around the country. Measuring the change in these measures will also provide insight into whether the information provided to the coaches and referees are indeed getting to the players.

Additionally, what makes BokSmart unique in South Africa is that we have used more than 34 experts to develop the program content and that every guideline document provided has a supporting, researched evidence-base, has been peer-reviewed and edited.