Photo caption: UC researchers with a junior rugby player wearing a prototype of the newly designed protective headgear.
Key points
Developed from more than a decade of research involving over 300 junior rugby players, UC's softshell headgear reduced head impact forces by up to 40% in laboratory testing.
The research combined sports science, health research, engineering, advanced materials, and machine learning to better understand head collisions.
The headgear is currently undergoing preparation to submit for World Rugby testing and has already attracted international licensing interest.
Game-changing headgear improving safety in junior rugby
Junior players aged 8 to 18 make up about 80% of the people involved in Aotearoa New Zealand rugby, and girls are one of the fastest-growing groups in the sport. At the same time, increasing awareness of the potential long-term effects of repeated head knocks has heighted concerns among parents about player safety.
A University of Canterbury (UC) team led by Professor Nick Draper from the Faculty of Health, spent more than ten years studying how head collisions happen in rugby, working across the health and engineering faculties.
The result is Ruru, a softshell headgear named after Aotearoa New Zealand’s native owl and decorated by a local Māori artist. The prototype emerged from advanced impact testing, machine-learning analysis of head impacts, and the use of new protective materials.
Research-informed innovation
The development of Ruru was underpinned by extensive, multidisciplinary research involving more than 300 players from Year 8 through to First XV rugby. Working alongside the Canterbury Rugby Football Union and Ellesmere Rugby Sub Union, the research team used a range of tools to better understand the nature and frequency of head impacts during play.
The studies incorporated MRI scans, neurocognitive assessments, video analysis, and sensor-equipped mouthguards to gather detailed information about player exposure to head impacts. This evidence provided the foundation for designing protective equipment capable of reducing the forces experienced during collisions.
Rather than relying on assumptions about how impacts occur, the team used real-world player data to inform the design process and evaluate the effectiveness of different materials and configurations.
Reducing impact forces
The researchers are clear that no headgear can prevent concussion entirely. However, laboratory testing showed that Ruru reduced head impact forces by as much as 40%, offering the potential to lessen the cumulative impact load experienced by players over the course of a game, season, or sporting career.
By focusing on reducing impact forces rather than making unrealistic claims about eliminating concussion risk, the project provides an evidence-based approach to improving player safety.
No headgear can eliminate the risk of concussion, but we believe reducing the forces players experience is an important step towards making rugby safer for young people.– Professor Nick Draper
Talk to Professor Nick Draper about the Ruru headgear and head impact research.
Last updated: October 2026
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