Malta national rugby union team

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Malta national rugby union team" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (July 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Malta

Nickname	L-imtaten (The Rams)
Emblem	The Ram
Union	Malta Rugby Football Union
Head coach	Keith Hopkins
Captain	Dominic Busuttil
First colours
World Rugby ranking
Current	44 (as of 20 March 2023)
Highest	38 (7 April 2022)
Lowest	45 (2023)
First international
Moldova 58–8 Malta (18 November 2000)
Biggest win
Andorra 3–89 Malta (24 March 2018)
Biggest defeat
Lithuania 81–10 Malta  (19 May 2018)
World Cup
Appearances	0

The Malta national rugby union team are governed by the Malta Rugby Football Union (MRFU). Although Malta has yet to qualify for the Rugby World Cup, the island state has made remarkable progression since its first international in 2000.

It is currently competing in the Rugby Europe Conference, after topping the Conference 1 South for the past two seasons—2017 and 2018—yet failing to win the play-off to rise to the higher level. The national side is ranked 46th in the world (as of 13 November 2022).

Malta's national team played their first match on 18 November 2000, against Moldova in Chişinău, which Moldova won 58–8. They played a subsequent match against Belgium that same year in Marsa, which Belgium won 26–0. Malta played four matches in 2001, and they recorded their first win in the fourth of them, against Monaco in Marsa. This was followed by a draw 10–10 with Norway, defeating Lithuania, Austria, Luxembourg, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia-Montenegro, Latvia and Hungary. They then played Moldova in 2004.

Malta then proceeded to enter the 2007 Rugby World Cup European qualification tournament where they were grouped in Pool D of the second round. After finishing third in their pool with two wins from four pool games, Malta entered a play-off along with Denmark, Andorra and Sweden to enter round three. Malta were successful and entered Pool B of round three.

The team is currently ranked 39th in the World Rugby world rankings, their highest ever position. They are coached by Welshman Damian Neill, a former Number 8 in the Welsh Premiership with Aberavon RFC and Maesteg RFC.

World Cup record									World Cup Qualification record
Year	Round	P	W	D	L	F	A		P	W	D	L	F	A
1987	Not Invited								Not Invited
1991	did not enter								did not enter
1995	did not enter								did not enter
1999	did not enter								did not enter
2003	did not qualify								5	0	0	5	27	177
2007									10	5	0	5	139	200
2011									4	2	0	2	66	70
2015									4	1	0	3	73	104
2019									5	3	1	1	161	97
2023									Automatically eliminated
Total	0/9	0	0	0	0	0	0		28	11	1	16	466	648

Below is a table of the representative rugby matches played by a Malta national XV at test level up until 30 November 2024, updated after match with  Andorra.

Opponent	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	% Won
Andorra	5	4	1	0	80%
Austria	1	1	0	0	100%
Belgium	2	0	2	0	0%
Bosnia and Herzegovina	3	3	0	0	100%
Bulgaria	3	2	1	0	66.67%
Croatia	15	5	8	2	33.33%
Cyprus	8	7	1	0	87.5%
Czech Republic	3	0	3	0	0%
Denmark	2	1	1	0	50%
Germany	1	0	1	0	0%
Hungary	1	1	0	0	100%
Israel	7	6	1	0	85.71%
Latvia	7	5	2	0	71.43%
Lithuania	7	4	3	0	57.14%
Luxembourg	1	1	0	0	100%
Moldova	2	0	2	0	0%
Monaco	2	1	1	0	50%
Netherlands	4	0	4	0	0%
Norway	1	0	0	1	0%
Poland	3	0	3	0	0%
Serbia and Montenegro	3	2	1	0	66.67%
Slovenia	4	3	1	0	75%
Sweden	4	3	1	0	75%
Switzerland	5	2	3	0	40%
Total	92	50	39	3	54.35%

Matches
30 October 2021 14:00 CEST (UTC+02) Slovenia  10–24  Malta Report Oval Ljubljana, Ljubljana Attendance: 0 Referee: Norbert Matrai (Hungary)
13 November 2021 13:00 CET (UTC+01) Malta  15–13  Israel (1 LBP) Report Tony Bezzina stadium, Paola Attendance: 0 Referee: Pedro Mendes-Silva (Portugal)

The following players were included in the squad for the 2021–22 Rugby Europe Conference South 1 match against Israel on 13 November 2021.^[1]

Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.

Player	Position	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Club/province
Rhodri Apsee	Prop			Bridgend Ravens
Patrick Martin	Hooker			Stompers RFC
Dragan Cerketa	Prop			Stompers RFC
Martin Barbara	Lock			Falcons RFC
Liam Scicluna	Lock			Falcons RFC
Cameron Sultana	Lock			Penarth RFC
Benjamin Borg	Flanker			Falcons RFC
Daniel Apsee	Flanker			Cowbridge RFC
Mark Davey	Number 8			Tonbridge Juddian RFC
Thomas Holloway	Scrum-half			Chester RUFC
Robert Holloway	Fly-half			Sedgley Park RUFC
Brendan Dalton	Wing			Falcons RFC
Dominic Busuttil (c)	Centre
Christopher Dudman	Centre			Rochford Hundred
Jeremy Debattista	Wing			Stompers RFC
Richard Gum	Fullback			Stompers RFC
Matthew Spiteri	Hooker			Stompers RFC
Thomas Davey	Number 8
Jethro Zammit Randich	Fullback			Kavallieri RFC
Jon Jerome Micallef	Lock			Stompers RFC
Matthew Camilleri	Centre			Stompers RFC
Luke Matthew	Fullback
Philippe Ioffe	Wing			UM Wolves RFC
Terence Galdes	Prop			Kavallieri RFC

• List of Malta national rugby union team test matches
• Rugby union in Malta

https://www.rugbyeurope.eu/competitions/conference-1-south/slovenia-v-malta/ https://www.rugbyeurope.eu/competitions/conference-1-south/croatia-v-malta/

• Malta Rugby Union official website
• Malta on rugbydata.com
• IRB rankings