A phone or tablet on the touchline can do four different jobs in rugby analysis: tag the match live, keep the stats, review technique on video, and get clips in front of players afterwards. No single app does all four well, and a surprising number of rugby apps have quietly stopped being updated. For most teams the best option is Framesports, which needs no app at all. For everything else, we went through the App Store in September 2026 and noted when each app was last updated, because an app built for an operating system from years ago is a risk on the morning of a match.
The best option: Framesports, with no app to install
Framesports runs in Safari on an iPhone or iPad. Film the match on the phone, upload it straight from there or paste a link to where the footage already sits, and it comes back tagged, with clips and stats. Nobody tags anything on the touchline. Players on the team sheet get their own clips by WhatsApp and email as soon as the analysis finishes, so nobody needs another login, and the same site works on a laptop, including a Mac. It is priced for a school or team rather than a professional programme.
If you want to tag live, keep your own stats or work on technique, these are the apps worth knowing.
Live tagging that feeds desktop software
These apps let someone on the touchline log events as they happen, then send them to analysis software on a laptop, where the tags line up with the footage.
- Metrica Nexus Mobile syncs live with Metrica’s Nexus software on a computer, on iPhone and iPad. The app is free, but it works alongside Nexus, which is paid.
- SBG Focus Tag clips and labels events onto the timeline of Focus, the video tool from Catapult’s SBG business.
- myDartfish Note logs events with button taps and links them to the video in Dartfish’s desktop software, on the plans that include it.
- Performa Sports is an iPad app for live tagging, stats, video and drawing, with an option to export data for Sportscode. It is free to download with a paid coach package.
- Timelines captures live data on iPhone, iPad and Mac and exports it in standard formats, on a monthly or yearly subscription.
Two older options still sit on the App Store but look abandoned: Nacsport’s Tag&view has not been updated since 2023, and iCODA 2, the live coding app for Sportscode, since 2015. Test either on your own device well before a match day.
Stat-taking apps built for rugby
If you want numbers rather than video, a rugby scorebook app does it for nothing or a few pounds. Rugby+ Match Stats Scorebook and Rugby Scorebook+ record things like tackles, lineouts and the score and export a spreadsheet, and both were updated this year. Assistant Coach Rugby adds squad admin and season records for a one-off fee.
The numbers from any of them are only as good as the person tapping, one person cannot watch a ruck and log a tackle at the same moment, and none of these apps links a stat to the clip that proves it.
Video review and drawing
For technique work, such as a lineout throw, a tackle entry or a kicking action, the coaching video apps are well made and well rated. OnForm offers slow motion, drawing on the frame, voice-over and side-by-side comparison, and CoachNow does video feedback with AI pose tracking. Each has more than a thousand ratings on the App Store. Dartfish’s myDartfish Express covers the same ground, with a free trial before you pay.
The original Coach’s Eye was retired by its developer, and the app now listed under that name comes from a different company. Hudl Technique was shut down after OnForm bought it in 2021. Guides that still recommend either are out of date.
These apps are built for a single movement filmed up close. They are the wrong tool for an eighty-minute match.
Getting clips to players’ phones
Most of the big platforms have a free app for players to watch their team’s video. Hudl’s app shows team video with breakdown data and highlights. Nacsport Hub carries the videos, analyses and presentations from Nacsport, SBG Hub does the same for Catapult’s tools, and Coach Logic has an app for match video and feedback, though it was last updated in 2023. Each one is only useful if your analysis already lives on that platform, and each asks every player to download and log in to something new. Framesports sends clips by WhatsApp and email instead, so players have nothing to install.
Which to choose
- You want full-match analysis without anyone tagging on the touchline: Framesports, the best option for most teams. The cheapest way to get rugby analysis done compares it with the other routes.
- You already use Sportscode, Nacsport, Dartfish, Catapult or Metrica on a laptop: use that vendor’s own app, and check its last update date before you rely on it.
- You want match stats without video: a rugby scorebook app, and accept that the numbers will be rough.
- You are coaching one skill at a time: OnForm or CoachNow.
Hero photo: SimonWaldherr, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
