Figure 14
The illustration contains two rectangular plots arranged side by side, each showing a full-width rugby pitch outline. In both plots, the horizontal axis is labeled “Field Length (meters)” and ranges from 0 to 100 with an interval of 10, and the vertical axis is labeled “Field Width (meters)” and ranges from 0 to 70 with an interval of 10. In both plots, the central vertical strip is between 22-meter lines from both sides. The left portion of the strip is shaded in light purple with a dotted texture, while the outside of the strip is shaded in light gray on both sides. The vertical solid line at the center of the strip is labeled “Halfway” at a field length of 50 meters. The left panel (a), titled “Traditional Support Pattern”, shows a cluster of overlapping black circles near the center of the shaded midfield zone, slightly left of the halfway line. Above this central band, faint purple text toward the top reads “22 to 50 meters zone”. The right panel (b), titled “Optimized Variable Support Pattern”, presents a similar pitch layout and similar black circles at the same position. A small legend near the bottom left identifies black circles as “Immediate Support” and red circles as “Delayed Support”. Around the midfield center, a group of black circles again marks the initial support cluster, but now two red circles appear slightly ahead and wider on the right within a dashed light-blue rectangular outline labeled “Threat Zone”. An annotation box in the upper-right of this panel summarizes performance gains: “Line Breaks: positive 26.8 percent”, “Territory Retention: positive 19.3 percent”, and “1.5 to 2 seconds delay optimal”.Rugby phase play optimization