By MOSES CHIMFWEMBE  –
THE Zambia Rugby Referees Society (ZRRS) has picked four referees to officiate at the 2015 Confederations of Africa Rugby (CAR) Africa Cup Group 1C tournament set for July.
ZRRS director Edward Chibulu named the top refereeing quartet as Caution Bweupe, Dan Mulenga, Reuben Mkandawire and Chris Mwamba.
Chibulu said yesterday that the four, who hold a level one qualification, will undergo a World Rugby, formerly International Rugby Board (IRB) training to upgrade their credentials to level two.
The new World Rugby regulations empowers referees with level two qualifications to officiate at international tournaments  while those with the less qualified credentials are relegated to the role of assistant referees.
“We have organised an expert from world rugby, who should conduct trainings for the four referees before the CAR tournament that will staged on home soil. We want our officials to be part of their international counterparts because that’s the only way they can get exposed,” Chibulu said.
Meanwhile, Chibulu said the ZRRS has swiftly moved in to address the current shortages of match officials by recruiting 10 young referees to beef up the numbers.
He said it is unfortunate that some of the league games were being played without match officials.
Chibulu said the new recruits will undergo training to obtain level one qualification that will enable them to handle domestic league matches and national tournaments.
“We want fresh legs to take over refereeing because most of the officials cannot handle matches due to age and we are happy with the enthusiasm from the youngsters who are aspiring to be match officials,” he said.