Rugby has apps for everything. Except the bench.
Union has a big coaching ecosystem — excellent tools for training, video, drills and club admin. But when the whistle goes, most community coaches are still running substitutions from a whiteboard and a stopwatch. Here’s what each of the big names is actually for, and where the gap sits.
A strong all-round club platform — availability, selection, fixtures, live scoring, comms and websites. The organisational layer for grassroots through senior clubs.
Hundreds of drills, session plans and age-specific coaching systems — from skills progressions to scrum, lineout and breakdown work. Built for improving training, not running match day.
One of the largest drill libraries going — 1,000+ animated exercises, a practice builder and season planning. The place to go for fresh training ideas.
The video standard for representative, school and elite rugby — filming, tagging, opposition analysis and performance review.
Rugby Australia’s official community app — registrations, team lists, fixtures, results and competition information. Essential admin for Australian clubs; not a coaching or bench tool.
Match uploads with coaching comments and player feedback — built around reviewing games together with your players.
The gap: bench management
Every app above assumes someone else is running the bench on Saturday. In community and junior rugby, that someone is a volunteer coach juggling rolling subs, a stopwatch and a mental list of who’s owed a run — which is why these remain the rarest features in the rugby union app market:
- Time on the field, tracked live for every player
- Equal playing-time tracking for junior rugby
- Substitution planning with bench alerts when a change is due
- Lineups that grow with the Kids Pathway — 7s, 10s, 12s, the full XV
- A season fairness record you can show a parent
- Hands-free voice logging for senior grades — Kickd Callout, over a Bluetooth headset
Where Kickd fits
Kickd is built for exactly that gap. Every Rugby AU Kids Pathway format is built in — 7s (U6–U8), 10s, 12s and the full XV with official 1–15 numbering — with rolling subs in two taps and every player’s time on the field counting up live. Rotation alerts fire when a change is due, lineups auto-fill to put the players with the least season game time on first, and tries, conversions, penalty goals and drop goals are logged live with made/missed kicking stats (carries, tackles and turnovers from U13 up). Parents follow the game free, every match keeps a fairness record, and junior teams get post-game Players’ Player voting with season leaderboards built in.
Australian-built, U6 to Opens, $40 per season for the whole team — and it lives happily beside Rugby Xplorer, Pitchero and your video workflow. See Kickd for rugby union.
Keep the drill library for Tuesday night and the video app for Sunday review. If the thing you’re juggling on Saturday is rolling subs, minutes and fair game time — that’s the job Kickd was built for.
Get the appRugby union apps, answered
What is the best rugby union app for game day?
It depends on the job. For club admin and communication, Pitchero Play; for training ideas, Rugby Coach Weekly and Sportplan; for video, Hudl or Coach Logic; for Australian registrations and fixtures, Rugby Xplorer. For running the bench during the game — substitutions, time on the field and fair game time — Kickd is purpose-built for community and junior rugby.
Which rugby union apps track time on the field?
Most rugby apps manage the club, plan training or review video. Kickd tracks the game itself: every player’s minutes count up live on the field view, rotation alerts fire when a sub is due, and lineups auto-fill to put the players with the least season game time on first.
Do any apps manage substitutions during a rugby match?
Live substitution management is the thinnest part of the rugby union app market — most coaches still run the bench from a whiteboard or memory. Kickd makes a sub two taps on the live field view, alerts you when a rotation is due, and keeps every player’s minutes counting through the change.
Does Kickd support the Rugby AU Kids Pathway formats?
Yes — 7-a-side for U6–U8, 10s, 12s and the full fifteen with official 1–15 numbering, with rolling subs and fair game-time tracking the whole way. The field view and positions grow with the age group.
Does Kickd replace Rugby Xplorer or Pitchero?
No — and it isn’t trying to. Registrations, fixtures, results and club communication stay in the platforms your competition already uses. Kickd adds the layer they don’t have: live bench management, player minutes and fair game time on match day.
Do any rugby union apps support voice control?
Kickd is the only grassroots rugby union app with sport-aware voice control. Kickd Callout — a premium add-on for senior grades — lets the coach log the match completely hands-free over a Bluetooth headset (the Shokz OpenComm 2 boom mic is the proven pick for sideline noise): say "try nine" or "conversion nine" and the match updates without touching the screen. Recognition runs on-device and fully offline, built from rugby’s own language rather than generic dictation.