Rugby Training Apps: What to Look For
Rugby IQ · 7 July 2026 · 9 min read
With Matt Taylor · Defence Coach
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Built for your position.
Answer a few questions and see the programs for your position, then train them in the app.
Search “rugby training app” and you will find everything from genuine coaching platforms to a PDF of push-ups wearing an app icon. We build one of them, so read this with that in mind, but the checklist below is the honest version of how we would evaluate any training app, including ours. Use it against every option you look at.
1. Is it rugby, or is it fitness with a rugby logo?
Generic strength plans help nobody get better at rugby specifically. Look for programming that knows a prop and a winger need different gyms, different conditioning and different skills, and content that covers the actual game: tackling technique, breakdown, lineout, kicking, game understanding. If the app could relabel itself as a CrossFit app by changing the logo, it is not a rugby app.
Read the full guide
2. Who is actually behind the content?
“Elite training methods” is a marketing phrase until you can see names and caps. Ask: which players, which coaches, what level? (For transparency, our answer is public: the ERA roster includes internationals like Kieran Read, Cheslin Kolbe and Faf de Klerk plus professional S&C, defence and scrum coaches, and how they train is exactly what the app teaches.)
3. Is it a plan or a pile?
A library of videos is a pile. A plan tells you what to do on Monday, how it changes in-season vs pre-season, and how this week connects to the next twelve. Look for periodisation (the structure explained in our rugby training program guide) and a full season cycle, not a six-week PDF that repeats forever.
4. Does it cover the whole athlete?
Training is the visible third. The apps worth paying for also handle fuelling (real nutrition systems, not a calorie counter) and durability (injury-prevention work, recovery protocols), because missed weeks are the biggest performance killer in amateur rugby.
5. Does it serve coaches, or only players?
If you run a team, look for drills with coaching points, playbooks, and a way to put content in front of your squad, things like a lineout database, strike plays and team plans.
The red flags
- No named experts, just stock photos and “pro-level” claims.
- One program for every position (or worse, every sport).
- No trial, or a cancellation flow you cannot find. Any honest platform lets you try it: ours is a 7-day free trial, cancel from your account page.
- Screenshots but no substance: if the marketing never shows an actual session, there probably isn’t one.
How we compare with SW7 Academy and Rugby Ready
These are the two strength and conditioning apps rugby players most often weigh up against us, so here is the plain comparison. Everything in their columns is what their own websites showed on 2 November 2026; where a site did not show something, the cell says so, which is a fact about the website rather than about what is inside the product.
| Compared on | Elite Rugby App | SW7 Academy | Rugby Ready |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it covers | Gym programming by position, fitness, nutrition, rugby IQ, lineouts, game plans and durability | A rugby strength and conditioning programme (Rugby Performance), plus non-rugby fitness programmes | Rugby strength and conditioning programmes and memberships, nutrition guides, and one-to-one coaching |
| Where you train | The Elite Rugby App on iPhone and Android | Their app | TeamBuildr, a separate training app, after the program is emailed to you |
| Price as published | See Pricing for today’s plans | £29.99 a month, or £269.99 a year | Academy from US$19 a month (US$39 with form checks); single programs US$49 to US$99 |
| Trying it first | 7-day free trial, nothing charged during it, cancel from your account page | One of their October articles offers the first week for £1 | 30-day money-back guarantee on the Academy page |
| Position content | Free position guides for all fifteen shirts, and gym plans by position | Not shown on their site | Not shown on their site; some programs come in forwards and backs versions |
| Team plans | Yes: team plans | Not shown on their site | A club plan, priced after a call |
What each does well. SW7 Academy, which its own site says was founded by Sam Warburton, sells a rugby gym programme laid out by season, with off-season, pre-season and in-season blocks. Rugby Ready, built around Dr Nic Gill and his coaching team, sells something we do not: a person checking your lifts, in its US$39 Academy tier, and one-to-one coaching above that.
How to choose. If you want a coach watching your form every week, Rugby Ready’s coached tiers are built for that. If you want one app that runs your gym weeks by position and also covers your fitness, food, rugby IQ, lineouts and team plans, with a free week to try it, that is what we built. Either way, ask each one the three questions below.
The honest comparison test
Take any two apps you are considering and ask each one the same three questions: What does my Tuesday look like in-season? Who teaches me to tackle, and what are their credentials? What happens to my program when pre-season starts? If the answers are specific, you have found a training system. If they are vague, you have found content.
And if you want to see how Elite Rugby App answers them, the custom rugby experience quiz builds your recommendation in two minutes, position, goals and level included.
Train it, don’t just read it
Every session in this guide is built, periodised and coached inside Elite Rugby App, from the strength staff behind international and Super Rugby teams.