Top Super League referee to officiate Ashes opener as NRL man gets second Test

Louis Chapman Coombe 20 Oct 2025 12:19 PM

Liam Moore will officiate the upcoming first Ashes Test at Wembley Stadium on Saturday, the RFL have confirmed.

His appointment for Saturday’s opener is the latest big appointment he has been given this season, after being in charge of both the Super League Grand Final and the Challenge Cup Final earlier this year.

Moore will be joined by fellow RFL officials Mark Craven and Richard Thompson on-field this weekend, with the pair appointed as touch judges.

Jack Smith will be the man in the bunker after being appointed video referee, with Chris Kendall and Neil Horton named as reserve referee and reserve touch judge, respectively.

Top Super League referee to officiate Ashes opener as NRL man gets second Test

While it will be a full RFL team for the clash at Wembley, NRL referee Grant Atkins will take charge of Test two at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium a week later.

Atkins was named as the NRL’s appointment for the series, and will arrive in the UK next week ahead of the Test on Merseyside.

The full officiating team for that second Test is yet to be confirmed.

A decision will then be made for the third and final Test at Headingley following a review of the first two Tests under agreed parameters.

This news also comes as the latest update ahead of the eagerly awaited Ashes Test, the first since 2003.

On Saturday, it was confirmed that ticket sales had surpassed 54,569, the figure which watched Great Britain defeat the Kangaroos in the infamous Test at the same venue in 1990.

There are hopes Saturday’s Ashes opener will become one of the biggest attendances for an international Test in the UK.