diff --git a/go/test/endtoend/vreplication/helper_test.go b/go/test/endtoend/vreplication/helper_test.go
index b109cc0e996..e952670f6ab 100644
--- a/go/test/endtoend/vreplication/helper_test.go
+++ b/go/test/endtoend/vreplication/helper_test.go
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
+	"vitess.io/vitess/go/json2"
+
 	"github.com/buger/jsonparser"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
@@ -463,7 +465,7 @@ func validateDryRunResults(t *testing.T, output string, want []string) {
 			w = strings.TrimSpace(w[1:])
 			result := strings.HasPrefix(g, w)
 			match = result
-			//t.Logf("Partial match |%v|%v|%v\n", w, g, match)
+			// t.Logf("Partial match |%v|%v|%v\n", w, g, match)
 		} else {
 			match = g == w
 		}
@@ -831,3 +833,33 @@ func (lg *loadGenerator) waitForCount(want int64) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+// VExplainPlan is the struct that represents the json output of a vexplain query.
+type VExplainPlan struct {
+	OperatorType string           `json:"OperatorType"`
+	Variant      string           `json:"Variant"`
+	Keyspace     VExplainKeyspace `json:"Keyspace"`
+	FieldQuery   string           `json:"FieldQuery"`
+	Query        string           `json:"Query"`
+	Table        string           `json:"TableName"`
+}
+
+type VExplainKeyspace struct {
+	Name    string `json:"Name"`
+	Sharded bool   `json:"Sharded"`
+}
+
+// vexplain runs vexplain on the given query and returns the plan. Useful for validating routing rules.
+func vexplain(t *testing.T, database, query string) *VExplainPlan {
+	vtgateConn := vc.GetVTGateConn(t)
+	defer vtgateConn.Close()
+
+	qr := execVtgateQuery(t, vtgateConn, database, fmt.Sprintf("vexplain %s", query))
+	require.NotNil(t, qr)
+	require.Equal(t, 1, len(qr.Rows))
+	json := qr.Rows[0][0].ToString()
+
+	var plan VExplainPlan
+	require.NoError(t, json2.Unmarshal([]byte(json), &plan))
+	return &plan
+}
diff --git a/go/test/endtoend/vreplication/reference_test.go b/go/test/endtoend/vreplication/reference_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..40a8b1e39c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/go/test/endtoend/vreplication/reference_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,131 @@
+package vreplication
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+const (
+	uksSchema = `
+create table product (id int, mfg_id int, cat_id int, name varchar(128), primary key(id));
+create table cat (id int, name varchar(128), primary key(id));
+create table mfg (id int, name varchar(128), primary key(id));
+`
+	sksSchema = `
+create table product (id int, mfg_id int, cat_id int, name varchar(128), primary key(id));
+create table cat (id int, name varchar(128), primary key(id));
+create table mfg2 (id int, name varchar(128), primary key(id));
+`
+	uksVSchema = `
+{
+	"sharded": false,
+	"tables": {
+		"product": {},
+		"cat": {},
+		"mfg": {}
+	}
+}`
+
+	sksVSchema = `
+{	
+	"sharded": true,
+	"tables": {
+		"product": {
+			"column_vindexes": [
+				{	
+					"column": "id",	
+					"name": "hash"
+				}
+			]
+		},
+  		"cat": {
+			"type": "reference",
+      		"source": "uks.cat"
+		},
+		"mfg2": {
+			"type": "reference",
+		  		"source": "uks.mfg"
+		}
+	},
+	"vindexes": {
+		"hash": {
+			"type": "hash"
+		}
+	}
+}`
+	materializeCatSpec = `
+{
+	"workflow": "wfCat", 
+	"source_keyspace": "uks", 
+	"target_keyspace": "sks", 
+	"table_settings": [ {"target_table": "cat", "source_expression": "select id, name from cat"  }] 
+}`
+	materializeMfgSpec = `
+{
+	"workflow": "wfMfg",
+	"source_keyspace": "uks",
+	"target_keyspace": "sks",
+	"table_settings": [ {"target_table": "mfg2", "source_expression": "select id, name from mfg"  }] 
+}`
+	initializeTables = `
+use uks;
+insert into product values (1, 1, 1, 'p1');
+insert into product values (2, 2, 2, 'p2');
+insert into product values (3, 3, 3, 'p3');
+insert into cat values (1, 'c1');
+insert into cat values (2, 'c2');
+insert into cat values (3, 'c3');
+insert into mfg values (1, 'm1');
+insert into mfg values (2, 'm2');
+insert into mfg values (3, 'm3');
+`
+)
+
+func TestReferenceTableMaterializationAndRouting(t *testing.T) {
+	var err error
+	defaultCellName := "zone1"
+	allCells := []string{defaultCellName}
+	allCellNames = defaultCellName
+	vc = NewVitessCluster(t, "TestReferenceTableMaterializationAndRouting", allCells, mainClusterConfig)
+	defer vc.TearDown(t)
+	defaultReplicas = 0 // because of CI resource constraints we can only run this test with primary tablets
+	defer func() { defaultReplicas = 1 }()
+	uks := "uks"
+	sks := "sks"
+
+	defaultCell := vc.Cells[defaultCellName]
+	vc.AddKeyspace(t, []*Cell{defaultCell}, uks, "0", uksVSchema, uksSchema, defaultReplicas, defaultRdonly, 100, nil)
+	vc.AddKeyspace(t, []*Cell{defaultCell}, sks, "-80,80-", sksVSchema, sksSchema, defaultReplicas, defaultRdonly, 200, nil)
+	vtgateConn := getConnection(t, vc.ClusterConfig.hostname, vc.ClusterConfig.vtgateMySQLPort)
+	verifyClusterHealth(t, vc)
+	_, _, err = vtgateConn.ExecuteFetchMulti(initializeTables, 0, false)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	materialize(t, materializeCatSpec, false)
+	materialize(t, materializeMfgSpec, false)
+
+	tabDash80 := vc.getPrimaryTablet(t, sks, "-80")
+	tab80Dash := vc.getPrimaryTablet(t, sks, "80-")
+	catchup(t, tabDash80, "wfCat", "Materialize Category")
+	catchup(t, tab80Dash, "wfCat", "Materialize Category")
+	catchup(t, tabDash80, "wfMfg", "Materialize Manufacturer")
+	catchup(t, tab80Dash, "wfMfg", "Materialize Manufacturer")
+
+	vtgateConn.Close()
+	vtgateConn = getConnection(t, vc.ClusterConfig.hostname, vc.ClusterConfig.vtgateMySQLPort)
+	defer vtgateConn.Close()
+	waitForRowCount(t, vtgateConn, sks, "cat", 3)
+	waitForRowCount(t, vtgateConn, sks, "mfg2", 3)
+
+	insertQuery := "insert into mfg values (4, 'm4')"
+	_, err = vtgateConn.ExecuteFetch(insertQuery, 0, false)
+	require.Contains(t, err.Error(), "table mfg not found")
+
+	insertQuery = "insert into mfg2 values (4, 'm4')"
+	_, err = vtgateConn.ExecuteFetch(insertQuery, 0, false)
+	require.Contains(t, err.Error(), "Table 'vt_uks.mfg2' doesn't exist")
+
+	insertQuery = "insert into uks.mfg values (4, 'm4')"
+	_, err = vtgateConn.ExecuteFetch(insertQuery, 0, false)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+}