Dartfish ensures Leeds Carnegie win ‘One Million Pound Match’

Optimal recently travelled to Headingly, the home of Leeds Rugby, to see exactly how Dartfish TeamPro was giving the Leeds players a competitive edge over their opponents.

Dubbed the ‘One Million Pound Match’, the recent encounter with Worcester Warriors was a vital match for Leeds as they looked to secure premiership status after promotion last year. In a nervy, often fraught encounter, Leeds came out on top 12-10, ensuring their seat at the top table of English rugby for another season.

Optimal were able to witness first-hand, the implementation of Dartfish during the match. Afterwards, we asked Giles Lindsay, Head of Performance Analysis, exactly what impact Dartfish has made on his work:

“Dartfish is a fantastic asset to our coaching set-up.  It is a definitive package, with so many unique and varying features, that allows us to efficiently provide our players and coaching staff with the visual information they require.”

Leeds find two specific features of Dartfish particularly useful: In-Game Tagging and dartfish.tv

The In-Game Tagging function allows Giles and his team to easily and efficiently categorise events, such as turnovers or scrums, which occur during a match. These events are then recorded from the live stream and stored within Dartfish.  After each game, these clips are then easily available, subdivided by each tagging categories for individuals and groups to observe, saving the analysis team from having to re-watch the match several times.  These highlight clips can also be manipulated, i.e. shown in slow-motion, zoomed in or annotated, making Dartfish ideally-suited for training and tactical presentations.

“The Tagging function allows us to quickly and easily form an index of in-game events, which the relevant coaches can subsequently analyse.  We can also easily catalogue specific clips, whether individual or positional, and this has proved a valuable tool for advancing our player’s tactical and skill development.”

Leeds also utilise their own personal dartfish.tv channel, allowing Giles and his assistants to publish their generated content directly from Dartfish to a web-based platform.  This provides the analysis team an effective means to store and categorise detailed analysis presentations, as well as allowing the Leeds players remote access to their video analysis.

“With dartfish.tv we can increase the contact time between the coaches and all our players, from the 1st XV right through to the academy sides. Playing staff can log on from any location and view a coach’s generated video content, supplemented by audio commentary, without having to physically come to the training ground.”

Optimal Analysis look forward to working closely with Leeds Rugby over the coming years and wish them the best of luck for next season.  If you require any more information or would be interested in purchasing Dartfish Software, please contact Optimal.

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