Rugby team app
Rugby team app: one place for your youth rugby team's week
This page is for youth rugby coaches and team managers, and the families who help them. The weekly routine works for any team; the product section comes after.
Starter is free for clubs with up to 10 teams.
Watch the video guide
Read the video transcript
A rugby season that runs smoothly
0:00 By the end of this video, you will know what a rugby team app should do for your team. You will also have a simple weekly routine for selection and fair minutes. We will follow a rugby coach through the week. We cover the calendar, who is coming, team selection, the front row, attendance, team messages and fixture changes.
What should a rugby team app do?
0:20 A good rugby team app does four jobs. It keeps one calendar. It collects clear answers about who is coming. It helps you set a lineup on a pitch.
0:29 And it keeps team messages in safe, separate channels. Start with the calendar. Put training nights, fixtures and festival days in one place that families open on web and phone. One shared calendar is easier to trust than three copies.
Who is available on Saturday?
0:45 Ask for availability early in the week. Players and parents answer Going, Maybe or Can't go. You see the counts and the names. In rugby, availability shapes selection more than anything else.
0:58 If a few answers are missing on Thursday, send one friendly reminder. Then call the families you still have not heard from. A short call is often quicker than another message.
Formats change by age
1:08 Youth rugby plays different formats by age. Younger players often start with tag or smaller-sided games. Older teams play sevens or fifteen a side. Check your league's rules for your age group, including contact and replacements.
1:22 Plan the front row first. Two props and a hooker make the front row, and scrums need players trained for those spots. Check your league's rules on what happens when a team is short of them.
A worked example: a fifteen-a-side Saturday
1:33 Here is a typical example. It is illustrative, not a specific club. An under-sixteen team plays fifteen a side and has twenty-two players. By Thursday, nineteen are going, two are maybes and one has answered Can't go.
1:48 Five of the nineteen are trained front-row players. The game is two halves of thirty minutes. Split it into four blocks of fifteen minutes. Fifteen spots on the pitch times four blocks is sixty playing blocks.
2:01 Sixty divided by nineteen is three blocks each, with three blocks left over. So three players play all four blocks, and sixteen play three. Three times four plus sixteen times three is sixty. Four players rest in each block.
2:17 Now check the front row. Three spots and five trained players give you cover for replacements in every block. Write the front-row plan first, then fill in the rest of the sheet.
RSVP and attendance are different
2:28 After the game, mark attendance. The RSVP is the plan. Attendance is the record of who came: present, late, absent or excused. Keeping both helps you spot patterns early and kindly.
When the fixture changes
2:41 Pitches close after heavy rain, and kickoff times move. When a fixture changes, change it in one place first. Then say it once, in the team's own channel, so families find the new time in one spot.
How Play 2 Earn Sports helps a rugby team
2:54 Now, how Play 2 Earn Sports helps a rugby team. Coaches and club admins use the same lineup builder. Rugby gets a squad and pitch view, so you can set the lineup on the pitch. Players and parents answer Going, Maybe or Can't go, and you see counts and names.
3:13 A coach can send one manual in-app reminder per item, at most once every twenty-four hours. Coaches and club staff mark attendance separately. Each team has Team, Coaches and Parents channels. Guardians can read their child's Team channel.
3:27 When a team event, team game or club game changes, affected families get in-app, email and push notices by default. They can opt out of event email and push. Keep one calendar, ask early, plan the front row first, and mark attendance after the game. The full guide is on the page linked in the description.
3:45 Coaching one team? Start a free club account for your team. Starter is free for clubs with up to 10 teams. Thanks for watching.
What a rugby team app should do
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One calendar
Training nights, fixtures and festival days in one place that families open on web and phone.
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Clear answers
Going, Maybe or Can't go for each event, with counts and names for the coach.
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A pitch lineup
Forwards and backs set on a pitch, built from who is available.
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Safe, separate channels
Team talk, coach talk and parent talk kept apart, with a guardian included in any adult-to-minor private chat.
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Attendance
A record of who came, separate from who said they would.
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Changes
When a fixture moves, the families in that game hear about it from one place.
The rugby coach's week
| Day | Job |
|---|---|
| Sunday or Monday | Check the week's training and the weekend fixture in the calendar. |
| Monday | Ask for availability for the weekend. |
| Thursday | Count answers, front-row players first; one friendly reminder; a quick call to anyone still missing. |
| Friday | Select the team: front row first, then the rest of the pack, then the backs, then the minutes. |
| Saturday | Game day; mark attendance after the game. |
| Sunday | Note any minutes to balance next week. |
Step 1
Ask early, count the front row on Thursday
Ask for availability at the start of the week. In youth rugby, availability shapes selection more than anything else. By Thursday, count the total and count your trained front-row players separately. If a few answers are missing, send one friendly reminder, then call the families you still have not heard from.
Step 2
Formats by age, and the front row first
Youth rugby plays different formats by age. Younger players often start with tag or smaller-sided games, and contact comes in step by step. Older teams play sevens or fifteen a side. Check your league's rules for your age group, including contact, scrums and replacements.
Illustrative formats, not rules:
| Format | On the pitch | Planning note |
|---|---|---|
| Tag or small-sided | Varies by age | Follow your league's age-group format |
| Sevens | 7 (3 forwards + 4 backs) | Short halves; plan the whole squad for a festival day |
| Fifteen a side | 15 (8 forwards + 7 backs) | Front row first: two props and a hooker |
Two props and a hooker make the front row, and contested scrums need players trained for those spots. Check your league's rules on what happens when a team is short of them. For a sevens day, see the rugby sevens tournament format.
Worked example
A fifteen-a-side Saturday with fair minutes
Illustrative example, not a specific club. Check your league's replacement rules before you plan blocks.
An under-sixteen team plays fifteen a side and has twenty-two players. By Thursday, nineteen are going, two are maybes and one has answered Can't go (19 + 2 + 1 = 22). Five of the nineteen are trained front-row players.
The plan. The game is two halves of thirty minutes. The coach splits it into four blocks of fifteen minutes.
| Check | Sum |
|---|---|
| Playing blocks | 15 spots × 4 blocks = 60 |
| Blocks per player | 60 ÷ 19 = 3, with 3 left over |
| Who plays what | 3 players × 4 blocks + 16 players × 3 blocks = 12 + 48 = 60 |
| Players resting each block | 19 − 15 = 4 |
| Rests in total | 4 × 4 = 16 = 16 players × 1 rest |
The front row. Three front-row spots and five trained players give cover for replacements in every block. The coach writes the front-row plan first, then fills in the rest of the sheet.
Both maybes say yes. If both maybes come, twenty-one players share the same sixty blocks: eighteen play three blocks and three play two (18 × 3 + 3 × 2 = 54 + 6 = 60). The three who play two blocks start first next week.
Step 3
RSVP and attendance are different
The RSVP is the plan. Attendance is the record of who came: present, late, absent or excused. Keeping both helps you spot patterns early and kindly, such as a player who often says yes but misses the warm-up, and start a friendly conversation with the family. In a contact sport, a record of who trained is also useful when you plan who is ready to play.
Step 4
When the fixture changes
Pitches close after heavy rain, and kickoff times move. Change the time in one place first, then say it once in the team's own channel. Families should find the new time in one spot, not across three threads. To plan the training nights themselves, see the practice schedule template.
A game-week checklist
Checklist: a rugby game week
- Fixture, arrival time and pitch in the calendar by Monday.
- Availability asked on Monday; answers counted on Thursday.
- Trained front-row players counted separately.
- One reminder, then a call to anyone still missing.
- Format, contact, scrum and replacement rules checked for your age group.
- Team selected: front row, pack, backs.
- Minutes planned from who is coming, and the totals checked.
- Attendance marked after the game.
- Minutes to balance next week written down.
How Play 2 Earn Sports supports a rugby team
Play 2 Earn Sports is one team app for the whole team, inside the club. For rugby:
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One calendar
The team and club calendar shows games, practices and events on web and phone.
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A squad and pitch view
Coaches and club admins use the same lineup builder, and rugby gets a squad and pitch view.
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Who is available
Players and parents answer Going, Maybe or Can't go, and coaches see counts and names. A coach can send one manual in-app reminder per item, at most once every 24 hours.
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Attendance
Coaches and club staff mark attendance (present, late, absent, excused), separately from RSVPs.
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Channels
Each team has Team, Coaches and Parents channels. Players, coaches and chat-enabled staff post in Team; coaches post in Coaches; coaches and guardians post in Parents. Guardians can read their child's Team channel. A private adult-to-minor chat brings a parent or guardian into the conversation until the player turns 18, and players under 14 can only DM teammates.
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Changes
When a team event, team game or club game changes, affected families get in-app, email and push notices by default. Families can opt out of event email and push.
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Practices
Practices can be created with a location. Repeating practices are set up through the club's event tools.
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On the phone
The app installs from the website on iPhone and Android. Tap Turn on notifications to get notices on the phone; on iPhone, add it to the Home Screen first.
Today, the front-row plan and the minutes are your team's plan on paper; the lineup builder holds the team on the pitch. For the league's side of the season, see rugby scheduling software.
Coaching one team? Start a free club account for your team.
Questions
Frequentlyasked questions
Look for one calendar, clear Going, Maybe or Can't go answers with counts and names, a lineup you set on a pitch, separate team, coach and parent channels with youth-safety rules, and attendance. Try it with your own team for a few weeks before the season.
Coaching one team? Start a free club account for your team at /club-starter. Starter is free for clubs with up to 10 teams, and every organization feature is on every plan. Coaches can join their club through the coach sign-up, and the club approves them. Coaching one team on your own? Start a free club account for your team.
Start with who is available, not from the full roster. Plan the front row first, then the rest of the pack, then the backs. Check your league's rules for your age group. In Play 2 Earn Sports, the lineup builder gives rugby a squad and pitch view.
Split the game into equal blocks, multiply spots by blocks, and divide by the players coming. In the example above, fifteen spots times four blocks is sixty, so nineteen players get three blocks each, with three players getting a fourth. Check your league's replacement rules first.
Ask early in the week. Players and parents answer Going, Maybe or Can't go, and you see the counts and names. A coach can send one manual in-app reminder per item, at most once every 24 hours.
The RSVP is the plan; attendance is the record of who came. Coaches and club staff mark attendance as present, late, absent or excused, separately from RSVPs.
Starter is free for clubs with up to 10 teams. Pro is $49.67 USD a month for 11 to 25 teams. Unlimited is $99.67 USD a month for 26 or more teams. Every organization feature is on every plan. See pricing.
One calendar, clear answers, the front row first. A calmer rugby week.
Coaching one team? Start a free club account for your team.