Injuries in young rugby players could be reduced by more than 70% thanks to a new 20-minute exercise programme, a study has found.
Players should complete the routine, which includes balance, strength and movement exercises, before matches and during training.
The study found overall injuries fell by 72%, and concussion injuries by 59%, when the routine was performed at least three times per week.
Published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, the three-year study involved 40 schools and nearly 2,500 players aged between 14 and 18.
Recommendations from the study will be rolled out nationwide by the Rugby Football Union (RFU) in preparation for next season.
Researchers from the University of Bath, who led the study with the RFU, developed the new exercise programme as part of the study.
It focuses on balance, strength and agility in order to prepare players for challenges they face in matches and to mitigate potential injury risks.
Dr Mike England, community rugby director at the RFU, said: "The results are impressive and we hope that a related study showing similar effects in the adult community game will be published soon.
"The RFU plans to roll out this approach across the community game in England and we will be training our local delivery workforce to help clubs, schools, colleges and universities adopt this type of training and realise the potential benefits for players."
The season-long exercise programme, which is split into four stages, takes roughly 20 minutes to complete. It is aimed at players in under-15 to under-18 age groups.
It consists of a two-minute running warm-up with change-of-direction activities, four minutes of lower-limb balance training, eight minutes of targeted resistance exercises and six minutes of jumping, side-stepping and landing exercises.
Specific exercises change every four weeks to reflect the progress made by the players.
The study was led by Professor Keith Stokes from the University of Bath. He said: "Over recent years, injury risk in youth rugby has received much attention, highlighting the importance of establishing new, evidence-based injury reduction strategies.
"Our results are exciting because they show that carrying out a simple set of exercises on a regular basis can substantially reduce injuries in youth rugby.
"We believe these findings will have a significant impact in helping to improve player welfare, making the game safer for young players to enjoy."
The RFU, which commissioned the study, will roll out the findings across the community game and are developing training resources for clubs, schools and coaches.
Dr Martin Raftery, chief medical officer of World Rugby, said: "World Rugby applauds the RFU and the University of Bath on another important and high-quality piece of research that further demonstrates rugby's commitment to an evidence-driven player welfare approach.
"We will discuss with both parties how this body of work can be applied to benefit the global game."
The Rugby Science team within the Department of Health at the University of Bath have been working closely with the RFU and the RFU Injured Players Foundation for the past 10 years.
Their work aims to understand more about injury risks and how to reduce them.
In 2013, their research to reduce the forces in the scrum led to a change in World Rugby law, changing the scrum engagement technique to "crouch, bind, set".