The 2026 Inter-School Rugby League tournament is scheduled to get underway on Thursday (23) with 18 teams vying for honours.

Reigning league and knock-out champions Trinity College Kandy and 17 other schools have been divided into three groups based on last year’s seedings with each team expected to play nine games before the champions are crowned at the end of June.

Trinity is pooled along with Isipathana College Colombo, D.S. Senanayake College Colombo, Sri Sumangala College Kandy, St. Anthony’s College Katugastota and Lumbini College Colombo in Group 1A.

Last year’s runners-up Wesley College Colombo is pooled in Group 1B along with St. Peter’s College Colombo, St. Joseph’s College Colombo, Ananda College Colombo, Mahanama College Colombo and Prince of Wales’ College Moratuwa.

Royal College Colombo, S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia, Kingswood College Kandy, Zahira College Colombo, Thurstan College Colombo and Science College Mount Lavinia are pooled in Group 1C for the first-round fixtures.

The top two teams in each group will proceed to the cup segment where each school will play four matches to determine the champions of this year’s tournament. Teams finishing third and fourth will play in the plate category while the schools finishing fifth and sixth in the group stage will compete in the bowl segment.

The two schools finishing at the bottom of the points table in the bowl segment will be demoted to the tier two of the schools’ league tournament.

Meanwhile, the curtain raiser of this season will be between last year’s runners-up Wesley College and newly promoted Prince of Wales’ College at Havelock Park on Thursday. Last year’s champions Trinity College will kick-start their campaign against Lumbini College at the Trinity College Rugby Stadium in Pallekele on Saturday.

The first-round games of the league tournament are scheduled to continue until May 24 with schools’ authorities indicating certain changes to venues and dates possible due to the volatile situation in the country. The second-round games are expected to commence after a one-week break where each team will play four more games to decide the champions of the 2026 Inter-School Rugby League tournament.