Watch: Incredible New Invention That Could Revolutionise How Rugby Players Practice Tackling

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Jason Hennessy

Jason is the editor here at RugbyLAD and a proud Limerick man.

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Who needs tackle bags when you’ve got this?

Meet the MVP. The Mobile Virtual Player is a remote-controlled robot training dummy which has been developed in the USA.

Initially employed in American Football, with NFL side the Pittsburgh Steelers making use of the technology, it’s now made its way to rugby with the USA Rugby Sevens team now using it during their training sessions.

The MVP can change direction and weave in and out, replicating live action. And it can shift, with a 40m time of around five seconds. The technology was developed at Dartmouth College, an Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire.

This could potentially revolutionise how rugby players practice tackling and benefit player welfare in the long run. How soon before we see it in union?