27 Jan 2026 | By Jatila Karawita

Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) has successfully reached an agreement with Asia Rugby (AR) to allow foreign referees to control the upcoming Cup segment fixtures of the super-round of the ongoing Maliban Inter-Club League Rugby Tournament, its President Pavithra Fernando told The Daily Morning Sports.

According to him, the foreign match officials will ‘blow’ each of the super-round encounters featuring CR and FC, Kandy SC, CH and FC and Havelocks SC during the next three-week period.

A foreign referee will also presumably take charge of the so-called grand finale to decide the outright winner of the Cup segment between the top two ranked teams of the points table at the conclusion of the super-round.

Fernando stated that however, the Plate segment encounters involving the defence services outfits such as Air Force, Army, Navy and the Police will be overseen by local referees, while it is learnt that some of the local match officials will be deployed as assistant referees for the Cup segment super-round.

The SLR head added that the Cup segment super-round schedule has been drawn up in such a manner to facilitate two foreign referees to be in charge of one week’s match schedule, after which another set of match officials will fly down to Colombo to control the ensuing week’s lineup.

He noted that the game’s local controlling body had been forced to seek the services of overseas referees in order to avoid unwarranted issues linked to decisions of local match officials, of what shapes to be an eagerly anticipated super-round between the crème de la crème of local club rugby.

However, Fernando dismissed suggestions that the move to hire foreign match officials is a slight on local referees, but explained that it is part of SLRs broader concept of introducing an Elite Referee setup in due course.

He acknowledged the fact that overall standards of local referees need to improve by leaps and bounds moving forward, and observed that locals should strive to further hone their craft in the company of foreign match officials during the second round of the League Tournament.

The Cup segment super-round fixtures are due to be held only over the weekend, while the Plate segment clashes are set to be worked off on Fridays and Saturdays, according to SLR.

Table leaders CR and FC will kick off the Cup category of the super-round being the guests of Havelocks at Havelock Park on Saturday (31), while 24-hours later CH and FC will welcome defending champions Kandy SC to Racecourse Grounds.

In the Plate category, table leaders Air Force will be the guests of Navy at Welisara on Friday (30), while the following day Army will host Police at Panagoda to round off the opening week’s games of the second round.

•Courtesy from https://www.themorning.lk/

https://www.themorning.lk/articles/zgGpbzBCcEwVbPkpqrfw