Abstract
The main purpose of this study is to obtain the psychological performance strategies used by Malaysian national rugby players during Asian 5 Nations Rugby Tournament 2015. All twenty-nine participants of this study are trained and experienced male players within the age of 19 to 38 years. Each player was given a set of Test of Performance Strategies (TOPS) questionnaire, which consisted of 64 items seeking the respondents to state the psychological strategy they use towards themselves during competition and practice during the match. The results showed significant difference only in emotional control strategy during practice condition. Due to specific demand in position, the backline-position players used emotional control as a strategy more often during practice, compared to the forward-position players. Meanwhile, in competition condition the performance strategies were equally used for both positions. The findings suggest that to win a game, both positions (forward and backline) have to use similar strategies, particularly in team sports. Future study should examine the strategies adopted in several investigations in order to derive comparisons among other professional teams.