mens
international
England’s 2003 World Cup-winning captain Martin Johnson was among the 2,000 people as Malta they celebrated their 100th national team with an epic 37-31 victory Germany at Tony Bezzina Stadium, Paola.
Malta’s first Rugby European Trophy clash coincided with Johnson’s trip to the Mediterranean island, which included a visit to the British High Commission in Valletta.
Germany, just one win away from qualifying for the 2019 World Cup, were ranked eight places above their hosts, but Malta blew them away in the early stages, racing into a 20-0 lead inside the first half hour.
The visitors rallied and reduced the deficit to three points in the 11th minute of the second half, but Malta managed to hold on and hold on for an important victory.
After coming from behind 17-0 Denmark 36-17 on their Trophy debut, this victory over Germany was made possible by another brilliant individual performance from inside center Christopher Dudman.
Dudman, who scored two tries and scored 11 points against the Danes, kicked one of Malta’s four tries on Saturday, converting all of them, including two penalties, into 19 points.
On Saturday, Malta will try to make it three wins from three, after promotion from the Conference, at home to Sweden, another top-ranked team.
The results confirm the decision of the head coach dr. Phil Pretorius to shake up his coaching staff ahead of the trophy challenge, with the likes of former All Black Brad Thorn, Greg Goodfellow and former Spain 7s player Jaike Carter is no longer involved.
South African Pretorius’ task this week has been to keep his feet on the ground and stay focused on the next task.
“As you may be aware, it was quite a task to ground the players after Saturday’s heroic effort and success! Unfortunately, they had to come down from the clouds as another mountaintop awaits this Saturday as we take on Sweden,” he said.
“Sweden is ranked 34th in the world and has a strong network of players; at least forty times that of Malta. They come away with a big 60-22 win Lithuania and last season were among the top 3 sides in the European trophy.
“On our side, we lost six players due to injuries, work commitments (as non-professional players) or personal circumstances.
“While we will be stretched thin with playing numbers, our hearts beat as one and that is to make Malta proud. We will take the fight to them.
“We have to neutralize their 12 centers (captain Axel Kalling-Smith), a rare talent, and their attacking attacks.
“However, we have our plans and we will run towards them and tackle them with the belief that we can achieve a lot.
“Finally, we appreciate the local support at the stadium – the players are enjoying it; a big thank you to everyone. We are also grateful to the government for their support of rugby.”