Rugby Union Scoreboard Graphics: Every Clock, Card and Scorebug State Explained
The conversion shot clock, the sin bin, the TMO and the bonus-point tracker: what a rugby union scoreboard has to show, and why each one breaks a graphic built for another code.
A rugby union scoreboard must show team names or crests, the running score, a count-up match clock with its period label, and three things no other code needs in the same combination: a conversion shot clock that starts the instant a try is awarded, a ten-minute sin-bin countdown per suspended player with the player count that results from it, and a TMO review state that can take points back off the board. The same graphic is called the scorebug, and broadcasters use both words. Most competitions also expect a bonus-point tracker, which is a league-table element living on a match bug.
That last point is the one people miss. Rugby union asks a scoreboard to display something that is not about this match at all.
What a rugby union scoreboard must show
| Element | Why it matters | Source of data |
|---|---|---|
| Score, home and away | Scores move in 2, 3, 5 and 7 point steps, so the gap changes meaning constantly | Scoring events |
| Match clock and period | Counts up, stopped by the referee rather than by a rule table | Referee time on and time off |
| Conversion clock | The kicker is on a shot clock the moment the try is awarded, and the viewer needs to see it running | Try event, competition setting |
| Sin-bin countdown | Ten minutes of playing time per yellow card, and two per side can be off at once | Yellow card event |
| Player count (15, 14, 13) | The single most important piece of context in a close game, and it is invisible on the pitch | Active sin bins plus red cards |
| TMO review state | Points already on the board may be removed, so the score is provisional | Review started and resolved |
| Bonus-point tracker | Tries scored against the four-try threshold, and losing margin against the seven-point threshold | Try count, live score delta |
| Competition branding | Identifies the league whose bonus-point rules are being applied | Competition configuration |
The clock is the hard part: rugby runs three timers at once
A rugby union match is two halves of 40 minutes, counting up. The clock is stopped and restarted by the referee, not by a rule table, so it measures playing time rather than elapsed wall time. Injuries, replacements, TMO reviews and penalty tries all stop it. Nothing about that is unusual on its own. What is unusual is that a rugby bug has to run a second and often a third timer alongside it, counting in the opposite direction, on the same playing-time basis.
The conversion clock. Under World Rugby Law 8, the kicker must take the conversion within a fixed window measured from the moment the try was awarded, even if the ball rolls over and has to be placed again. That window was 90 seconds for years and was reduced to 60 seconds under the global law trial that took effect on 1 January 2025. Community and legacy competitions still run to the older figure. So the length of the conversion clock is a competition setting, not a constant, and a rugby scoreboard that hard-codes either number will be wrong somewhere.
The sin-bin clock. Ten minutes, also measured in playing time, which means it must pause every time the referee calls time off. A sin bin that decrements against real time will return a player early in a match with a long injury stoppage. Two players from the same side can be binned concurrently, so the bug needs two stacked countdowns per team rather than one.
The match clock itself. Extra time in knockout competitions is two periods of 10 minutes, followed by sudden death where the format allows it, and the period label has to change with it.
The craft detail that makes or breaks all three: the numerals must be tabular, so that the digits do not shift position when 9 becomes 10 or 59 becomes 60. Three timers reflowing at different moments is the fastest way to make a broadcast bug look amateur.
The conversion clock and the sin-bin chip both want to sit against the same team block. When a side scores a try while already a player down, the bug has to resolve that conflict deliberately. The usual answer is that the conversion clock takes priority for its window, then hands the slot back.
Scoring events and what the bug does
| Event | Points | What the bug does |
|---|---|---|
| Try | +5 | Score increments, scorer name and minute, conversion clock starts |
| Conversion | +2 | Increments only on a successful kick, clears the conversion clock either way |
| Penalty try | +7 | Increments by seven and suppresses the conversion entirely, because no kick is taken |
| Penalty goal | +3 | Increments on the kick result, not on the penalty being awarded |
| Drop goal | +3 | Same value as a penalty goal, so it needs distinct wording or a viewer cannot tell them apart |
| TMO overturn | Varies | Score decrements, and any try graphic already queued must be replaced with a no-try result |
The penalty try is the event that catches out scorebugs ported in from another code. It is a single scoring event worth seven points with no kick attached, so it must increment by seven, skip the conversion clock and never chain into a kicking graphic. Rugby league bugs, built around a four-point try and a separate two-point conversion, get this wrong by default. The drop goal and the penalty goal are the other trap: both are worth three, both are kicks, and an overlay that only says +3 tells the viewer nothing.
Cards, sin bins and player counts
A yellow card is ten minutes off the field. A red card is permanent, and in the competitions that have adopted the 20-minute red card, the sanctioned team may bring on a replacement after twenty minutes rather than finishing the match a player short. The two variants look identical at the moment the card is shown and diverge completely afterwards, so the bug has to know which rule set it is operating under before it renders anything.
- Player count badge. Fifteen minus active sin bins minus red cards. It should appear only when a team is not at fifteen, and it should be the last thing on the bug to disappear.
- Two concurrent bins. Legal, and it happens. The countdown chips need to stack without overlapping the score.
- Foul-play review and card upgrade. Some competitions send a potential card to an off-field review first. A yellow can then become a red. That is not a new card event, it is the same event changing state, and the player count has to follow it.
Extensions: the stats worth putting on the bug
A scorebug extension is a panel that pops out from the bug, holds a stat for a few seconds and retracts. In LIGR it can fire automatically on a milestone or be pulled manually from the Control Room, and it can carry a sponsor lock-up. For rugby union the ones that earn their place are:
- Bonus-point tracker. Two pips per team: try bonus at four tries, losing bonus at a final margin of seven or fewer. Worth stressing that the losing bonus can only resolve at full time, and that thresholds vary between competitions, so this has to be configurable rather than assumed.
- Kicker accuracy. Attempts, successes and percentage across conversions, penalties and drop goals. Missed kicks must count as attempts or the number is meaningless.
- Set-piece counts. Scrums and lineouts won on own feed or throw, the closest rugby has to a meaningful possession statistic.
- Territory and possession. A split bar, useful precisely because rugby scorelines so often contradict it.
How LIGR drives a rugby union scoreboard
Data in. Where an official feed exists, LIGR takes it: Sportradar, Opta and Stats Perform, Genius Sports or InteractSport. Below the top tier of rugby union there is usually no feed at all, which is where the LiveScore app takes over. An operator presses buttons for real match events, try, conversion, penalty goal, card, replacement, and the graphics update themselves. Every press is timestamped, which is what makes the extensions and the automated highlights possible. The graphics are identical either way.
Graphics. Scoreboards are built and data-bound in Fuse, with premium animation authored in Rive. That binding is the reason the competition-specific numbers are not a design problem: the conversion window, the sin-bin length and the bonus-point thresholds are variables on a published theme, not a redraw. Point a different competition at the same theme and the numbers change with it.
Automation. Game Plans triggers graphics off match events and off the clock, so the conversion clock starts on the try event rather than on an operator remembering to start it, and the sin-bin chip appears and clears itself. Where you want a human in the loop, typically for a TMO decision that has not resolved yet, the Control Room takes over without changing the graphics package. The same pipeline runs high-volume automated football, including 640 or more DAZN National League matches a season, and LIGR already produces rugby league for Queensland Rugby League.
Rugby union is in build at LIGR, so the honest version of this page is the requirements rather than a product shot. If you run a union competition and want the bug specced against your rule set, now is the time to say so.
Frequently asked questions
What is a rugby union scoreboard overlay?
A rugby union scoreboard overlay is the graphic laid over the live picture that carries the match state: teams, score, the count-up clock and the period. The same graphic is also called a scorebug. Union asks more of it than most codes, so a rugby scoreboard overlay also has to run a conversion shot clock, a ten-minute sin-bin countdown with the player count that follows from it, a TMO review state and, in most competitions, a bonus-point tracker.
What does a rugby union scorebug need to display?
At minimum: both team identities, the score, a count-up match clock and its period. Rugby union then adds four code-specific elements: a conversion shot clock triggered by a try, a ten-minute sin-bin countdown for each yellow card, a player-count indicator showing 15, 14 or 13 a side, and a TMO review state. Competition broadcasts usually add a bonus-point tracker as well.
How long does a kicker have to take a conversion in rugby union?
World Rugby Law 8 requires the kick to be taken within a set window of playing time measured from the moment the try was awarded, even if the ball rolls over and has to be replaced. That window was 90 seconds and was reduced to 60 seconds under the global law trial in force from 1 January 2025. Competitions outside the trial may still use 90 seconds, so a scorebug should treat the figure as configuration.
Why does a rugby scoreboard need a player-count indicator?
Because a team playing with 14 or 13 players looks exactly the same on a wide camera shot as a team with 15. Yellow cards remove a player for ten minutes and red cards remove one permanently, and two players from the same side can be off at once. Without a persistent count on the bug, the viewer has no way to understand why a match has suddenly changed shape.
How is a penalty try displayed on a scorebug?
A penalty try is worth seven points and no conversion is attempted, so the bug increments the score by seven in a single step and must suppress the conversion clock and any kicking graphic. This is the main reason a rugby league or generic rugby scorebug cannot simply be reused for union, since it will try to chain a conversion that never happens.
What is a bonus-point tracker and why is it on the match bug?
A bonus point is a league-table reward, most commonly one point for scoring four or more tries and one point for losing by seven or fewer. It is shown on the match bug because both thresholds are live during play and both change how the closing minutes are read. The losing bonus can only be confirmed at full time, and thresholds differ between competitions, so it should be configurable.
Can a rugby union scorebug run without an official data feed?
Yes. Below the professional tier there is generally no rugby union data feed to take. LIGR runs the same graphics from its LiveScore app, where an operator logs tries, conversions, penalties, cards and replacements as they happen. The graphics package, the automation and the timestamped event log are identical whether the source is an official feed or the app.
Spec your rugby union scoreboard against your competition rules
Conversion window, sin-bin length, bonus-point thresholds and card protocols differ by competition. All of them are settings in LIGR, not redesigns.