# Malta national rugby union team

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).

## History

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.

## Record
### World Cup

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

### European Competitions

| Season | Division | G | W | D | L | PF | PA | +/− | Pts | Pos |
| 2001-02 | European Nations Cup Third Division Pool 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 45 | 24 | +21 | 8 | 1st |
| 2002-03 | European Nations Cup Third Division Pool B | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 101 | 54 | +47 | 12 | 1st |
| 2003-04 | European Nations Cup Third Division Pool A | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 73 | 75 | -2 | 10 | 2nd |
| 2006-08 | European Nations Cup Second Division 2B | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 125 | 210 | -85 | 12 | 4th |
| 2008-10 | European Nations Cup Second Division 2B | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 132 | 156 | -24 | 16 | 3rd |
| 2010-12 | European Nations Cup Second Division 2A | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 146 | 135 | +11 | 20 | 3rd |
| 2012-14 | European Nations Cup Second Division 2A | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 162 | 179 | -17 | 18 | 3rd |
| 2014-16 | European Nations Cup Second Division 2A | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 153 | 181 | -28 | 16 | 4th |
| 2016-17 | Rugby Europe Conference 1 South | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 147 | 49 | +98 | 17 | 1st |
| 2017-18 | Rugby Europe Conference 1 South | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 221 | 48 | +173 | 20 | 1st |
| 2018-19 | Rugby Europe Conference 1 South | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 117 | 49 | +68 | 16 | 1st |
| 2019-20 | Rugby Europe Conference 1 South | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 58 | 32 | +26 | 6 | 2nd |
| 2021-22 | Rugby Europe Conference 1 South | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 69 | 40 | +29 | 14 | 2nd |

### Overall

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% |

## Recent Matches

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

## Current squad

The following players were included in the squad for the 2021–22 Rugby Europe Conference South 1 match against Israel on 13 November 2021.
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.
| Player | Position | 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 |

## Coaches

| Name | Years | Tests | Won | Lost | Drew |
| Keith Hopkins | 2023–present | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Damian Neill | 2005–2023 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Len Ethel | 2000–2001 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Nigal Ben Bennett | 2001–2002 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Graham Richards | 2002–2004 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 1 |