The 2016–17 Dialog Rugby League was the 66th season of the top flight of Sri Lankan domestic rugby union competition. The competition is sponsored and broadcast by Dialog TV.
The league consists of 8 clubs playing in a home-and-away double round robin. The standings at the end of the season determine the seedings for the 2017 edition of the Clifford Cup playoffs held in the spring.
The reigning champions of both last year's regular season and the 2016 Clifford Cup is Kandy SC, who claimed their 17th league title after finishing the 2015–2016 season undefeated, two games clear of runners up Havelock SC.
The 2016–17 season was the first season that the SLRFU introduced a Television Match Official (TMO) for selected domestic games.
Kandy SC began the season in dominant form defeating CH&FC 96 to nil in their opening game before losing to Air Force SC the following week in a close game 24 to 21. Before the mid season break at the end of the year Kandy SC lost a second game, this time to Navy SC 32–37. Havelock SC commenced the year with a six-game winning streak, which ended with a 30–39 loss to Kandy SC on 18 December 2016.
In the second half of the season both Kandy SC and Havelock SC continued their respective unbeaten runs, with the title race coming down to the second last game of the season. The resultant win by Kandy SC 26-11 virtually secured the club the title, as whilst both clubs have the same number of wins for the season Kandy SC have more bonus points due to the size of their winning margins over the season. In the final round of the season Kandy SC finished in the same manner as they started by comprehensively defeating CH&FC 59–3, thereby retaining their League title for the 3rd year in a row.
Teams
Division 'A' clubs Colours Club Established City Stadium Capacity* Titles (Last)** Air Force Sports Club - Ratmalana Air Force Ground Ratmalana - - Army Sports Club 1962 Panagoda Sri Lanka Army Rugby Ground Panagoda - 2 (1975) Ceylonese Rugby & Football Club 1922 Colombo Longdon Place 5,550 13 (2002) Colombo Hockey and Football Club 1892 Colombo Colombo Racecourse 40,000 10 (2000) Havelock Sports Club 1915 Havelock Town Havelock Park - 14 (2012) Kandy Sports Club 1888KandyNittawela Rugby Stadium 25,000 17 (2016) Navy Sports Club - Welisara Welisara Navy ground - 1 (2014) Police Sports Club 1926 Bambalapitiya Police Park - 9 (1991)
League table
Table standings updated through 12 February 2017Fixtures & Results - Dialog Rugby League 2016/17Dialog Rugby League 2016/2017 | TheFuture. Today
Season champions
Place Club Games Points Bonuspoints Tablepoints played won drawn lost for against diff1Kandy SC141202633257+37615752Havelock SC141202470210+2609693Navy SC141003463336+1277574CR & FC14607454338+11612475Air Force SC14607333411−785406Army SC14508359383−249347Police SC143010289389-1007228CH & FC140013149796-64722Points are awarded to the teams as follows:Win - 5 pointsDraw - 2 points4 or more tries - 1 pointLoss within 7 points - 1 pointLoss greater than 7 points - 0 points
Try and Points scorers Leading Try ScorerPlayerClubTriesKandy SC16Kandy SC12Navy SC11
Leading Points ScorerPlayerClubPointsHavelock SC171Navy SC154Kandy SC118
League Season Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13
Week 14
References