SetPiece

Rugby practice planner

Plan a rugby session in 90 seconds. Run it from your pocket.

SetPiece is a rugby practice planner built around how training actually works: drag drills into order, watch the minutes auto-sum, tag intensity and focus, then hit Run mode when the whistle goes. No spreadsheets. No tabs. One phone.

Free private beta. We'll email you when it opens.

SetPiece session planner shown on a laptop and an iPhone side by side

How it works

Built around how rugby coaches actually plan.

Every general-purpose planner forces you to fit rugby into a shape it doesn't fit. SetPiece starts from the rugby shape and lets the tool follow.

Drill stack with auto-summed minutes

Drag drills into the order you'll run them. Stack drill stations into a single block. The header pill shows total minutes vs the slot you have — No math, no surprises when you're already on the pitch.

  • One tap to set a drill as the session's primary drill.
  • Per-drill intensity (low / med / high) and focus tags (handling, contact, set-piece, defence, kick, fitness).
  • Notes field per drill — coaching points, equipment, group split.
Close-up of the drill drawer in the SetPiece session planner on an iPhone. A drill called 'Contact Ladder' — 'Drill 2 of 5' — is open. Visible fields: a name input set to Contact Ladder; a minutes selector with 20 highlighted in pitch-green from 5/10/12/15/18/20; an intensity selector showing Low / Medium / High with High selected in pitch-green; a group selector with Full squad selected over Forwards, Backs and others. Below sit short helper paragraphs for Who and Matchday Roster, a 'Pin from next match' button, a primary pitch-green 'Done' button, and a red 'Delete drill' button.

Run mode for the touchline

When training starts, tap Start. The phone flips into Run mode: a single huge timer for the current drill, the next two drills queued underneath, and the screen stays on (wake-lock) so you're not unlocking with muddy gloves every minute. Finish early? One tap advances. Running long? The clock keeps going — overrun is recorded, not punished.

  • Big numerals readable from 3 meters on a sideline phone or a coach's tablet.
  • Attached drill animations play inline — show the move, then run it.
  • Works offline once the session has loaded — clubhouse Wi-Fi doesn't matter.
Run mode on an iPhone on the touchline. Across the top: a back chevron, 'DRILL 1 OF 6' centred, and a running clock reading 00:10. The body shows a huge 'WARM-UP · ACTIVATION' headline over its details — '12 MIN · FULL SQUAD · LOW', the time window '0 — 12 MIN', the coaching cue 'Mobility, prehab and movement prep. Build to working pace.', and two tags (LOW, FULL SQUAD). Below sits the upcoming-drills stack with the current drill highlighted in pitch-green at the top, then five more drills queued underneath (Breakdown clear-out, Lineout pods of three, Defensive line speed, Kick-chase re-load, Cool-down review). The bottom of the screen carries three big touchline-readable buttons: 'Previous', a pitch-green 'Next drill', and a red 'End'.

Sessions live inside a weekly view

One session is a unit. The week is the point. SetPiece shows your Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday as a column you can swipe through — duplicate last week's session, tweak two drills, save. Session planning gets easier as your season gets busier.

  • Duplicate any session into next week with one tap.
  • All coaches in the account can view and edit sessions.
SetPiece weekly view on a tablet. A dark green sidebar holds the navigation (Sessions, Playbook, Matches, Squad, Recruiting, Settings). The workspace shows an 'Up next: Session — Sat — Tomorrow · 18:00 · 40 min' card, a 'Schedule for' row of day chips (Today, Tomorrow, Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu) with a 'No date' option, and a 'This week' panel with seven day columns from Mon 25 through Sun 31. Tue 26 holds an 18:00 Attack Shape Focus card tagged ATTACK · READY, Wed 27 holds Session — Wed (ATTACK · READY), Sat 30 holds Session — Sat (ATTACK · DRAFT); Fri 29 is today, outlined in gold; Mon, Thu and Sun show empty placeholders with a 'Schedule' affordance.

Why a rugby practice planner, not a general one

The spreadsheet survived because nothing better existed.

Google Doc / Notes app

  • Re-typing minute counts and managing cells every week.
  • Hard to read without a print-out.
  • Can't run a timer on the touchline.
  • Sharing is painful.

Whiteboard before training

  • Vanishes the moment training ends.
  • No history, no reuse, no patterns.
  • Doesn't move with you to the pitch.

Generic practice-planner app

  • Built for soccer / basketball / hockey / football.
  • No rugby focus tags, no set-piece slot, no position bands.
  • No place to attach a lineout or backline play.

SetPiece

  • Rugby focus tags, intensity, primary-drill marker.
  • Sideline Run Mode with wake-lock and animations.
  • One screen from Tuesday to Saturday.
  • Sessions can run offline.

Common questions

Rugby practice planner FAQ

What is a rugby practice planner?
A tool for laying out the order, length and intensity of drills inside one training session, and stacking those sessions into a weekly plan. SetPiece is built specifically for rugby: each drill carries minutes, intensity, a rugby-specific focus tag (handling, contact, set-piece, defence, kick, fitness) and an optional playbook diagram.
How long does it take to plan a session?
About 90 seconds for a 90-minute session if you reuse drills from your library, and 5–10 minutes if you're building drills from scratch. The running total at the top of the screen means you never overshoot the slot.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes — phone-first. The planner is tuned for one-thumb use in a kit bag, on the sideline, or in the parking lot before training. Nothing requires a keyboard.
Can I run the session live during training?
Yes. Run mode turns the planned session into a touchline timer: big primary-drill display, queued upcoming drills, screen wake-lock, and one-tap advance. Share it with your assistant coaches and they can run the planner from their phones too — no need to crowd around a single screen or hand out printed copies.
Does SetPiece support 15s, 10s and 7s rugby?
Yes. Squad and drill tags handle format. Match-day lineups support rolling subs for 7s; the planner itself is the same workflow regardless.

More from SetPiece

Rugby playbook software →

Geometry-first play designer with per-segment line intensity and run-time validation.

Rugby squad management →

Players never need to sign in. Coaches hold the squad, positions, bands and availability.

Rugby drill library →

Structured drills you can drop into a session in one tap, with attached animations.

Rugby recruiting →

Shareable team page + prospect pipeline. Fill next season's squad in the off-season.

Plan next Tuesday's session in a minute.

Drop your email — we'll let you know the moment the beta opens.