When do rugby teams run the Bronco?

Typically at the start of pre-season as a baseline, then again at intervals through the season. Keep the surface, the time of day and the warm-up the same each time, or the changes you see may come from the conditions.

Should forwards and backs be compared?

No. In the published Super Rugby data backs are faster than forwards in both sexes, so judge each player against their own position group and their own previous time.

Is the Bronco a replacement for the Yo-Yo test?

They measure different things. The Yo-Yo IR1 measures repeated intense efforts with short recoveries and gives a distance; the Bronco is a continuous time trial with turns. Many staff use one or the other, and the scores do not convert.

Bronco test for rugby: how teams use it

What a coach gets from it

The Bronco test is a fixed-distance time trial: five sets of 20, 40 and 60 m out-and-backs, 1,200 m in all, 30 turns. It gives one number, the total time. Rugby staff like it because it asks for what the game asks: repeated braking, turning and restarting, over a few minutes, with no audio track to run to.

It is not a diagnostic. It tells you whether a player is getting fitter, not why.

When teams run it

The usual pattern is a baseline at the start of pre-season, a retest a few weeks later to check the block worked, and further tests at fixed points in the season. The exact calendar is a staff decision: no governing body prescribes one.

Whatever the calendar, hold the conditions constant. Same surface, same time of day, same warm-up, lines measured with a tape. A 5 cm error on each line adds up to metres over 30 turns.

Running it with a squad

Mark the course once: cones at 0, 20, 40 and 60 m, on a lane about 2 m wide.
Test in waves: one or two players per wave, one timer per runner, who calls the finish as the player crosses the start line after the fifth set.
Order the waves so that players of similar speed run together. It helps pacing and reduces the temptation to follow rather than run.
Record the time to the second, with the name, the surface and the weather.
Keep the rest between a player’s own waves long enough for a full effort. The test is run flat out.

A squad of 30 takes under an hour with two lanes.

Reading results by position

In Weakley and colleagues’ ten-year Super Rugby dataset, the averages were:

Group	Average time
Men, backs	4:57
Men, forwards	5:21
Women, backs	5:52
Women, forwards	6:38

Backs were faster than forwards in both sexes, and front rowers were the slowest group. These are professional averages, not pass marks. For a club or school squad they are a ceiling to look at, not a threshold to hold players to.

The more useful comparison is each player against their own last time. A gain of several seconds across a pre-season block is a clearer signal than a distance from an average.

What the test cannot tell you

It does not give MAS directly. A published formula subtracts a turning cost from the time to estimate it, but it is an estimate. For training paces, a beep test gives a more direct figure.
It does not measure repeated sprint ability with short recoveries. The Yo-Yo IR1 does.
It is not position specific. It averages the demands of all positions, which is why results should be compared inside a position group.
It has no official standard. Rating tables online mostly lack a primary source.