Go Swansea boys!

Sometimes work takes you to places that feel slightly surreal.

I went to a rugby match at Twickenham Stoop to observe data collection with mouthguards with a Swansea team. Although I was there for research, it was impossible not to feel the atmosphere of the place. Twickenham is huge, and even before the match properly began, the scale of the stadium already made everything feel like an event.

We sat in the front row with the team. The players on the bench were just next to us, and when someone was substituted off, they came off the pitch and sat nearby too. It was the closest I had ever been to a professional rugby match, and also one of the few times where the data collection process felt so immediate and tangible.

I also had the chance to chat with the data collection team and watch them work live during the game. Most of my rugby-related work happens through datasets, kinematics, impact traces, models, and spreadsheets. Being there in person was a useful reminder that behind every data point there is a real match, real players, and a much larger sporting environment around the numbers.

As the match went on, it became absolutely freezing, but the experience was still quite nice.

(P.S. Mazdak became the first passenger to sit in the rear seat after we bought the car, when CH came pick me up after the match.)