The Malta Rugby Football Union national team are bracing themselves for a tough outing this afternoon when they face Group B favourites Germany in their opening 2007 World Cup third round qualifier at the Hibs Ground (kick-off: 2 p.m.).
During the past five years, the rugby team were behind some memorable performances which reached a highlight last May when a last-gasp Steve Haycock try handed Malta a narrow 31-30 aggregate win over Denmark to progress to this stage of the build-up to the World Cup.
That famous victory brought to the fore the passion and determination of the national team players. On that day, they simply could not let down the bumper crowd that had filled the stands at the Hibs Ground to support the team.
Today, Malta must produce that same high level of play if they are to topple a Germany side ranked 27th in the latest International Rugby Board list.
The Germans breezed into the third qualifying round in convincing fashion. They won all their group matches with relative ease - vs Luxembourg (96-0), Denmark (56-0), Austria (69-9) and Moldova (27-18).
The other three teams in Group B are Serbia and Montenegro, who host Malta in Belgrade today week, Croatia and Belgium.
The Croats already have one victory under their belts after they beat Serbia 26-9 in Split last month. Today they host Belgium. The group winners progress to a play-off with the top team from Group A.
Malta coach Damien Neill is boosted by the return of Rohan Spiteri, the Maltese-Australian fly-half whose precise kicking has turned many an outcome in our favour in international matches.
The Malta Knights player admitted that the Germany match will be Malta's biggest test in international Rugby Union so far. However, despite the opponents' credentials he is unfazed by the challenge.
"Germany are a very strong side, no doubt," Spiteri told The Times.
"IRB rankings are updated regularly. Germany's high position speaks volumes of their strength. But that does not mean we are conceding defeat without trying.
"Against Germany we will be the underdogs and that puts us in a favourable position. We will be playing without much pressure on our shoulders."
Malta will have three new players in the starting formation today, namely, Michael Whitley, of London's Ealing, Guy Kennedy, who plays for Canberra Vikings, and Maltese-Australian winger Simon Micallef.
Spiteri has first-hand experience of Micallef's virtues as he plays alongside him with Malta Knights in the Australian Rugby League.
"Simon is a fantastic player, he has tremendous speed and I'm sure he will pose a lot of problems to the Germans," he said.
Today, Spiteri will be donning the Malta shirt again after recovering from shoulder surgery that forced him to sit out Malta's qualifiers in 2005. His last appearance was the 38-13 defeat to Poland at the Marsa Sports Ground last November.
That qualifier holds little fond memories for Spiteri who had a poor performance. He gifted the Poles with a try early in the match and went on to miss three penalties and a conversion that cost the national team dearly.
"I played really awful against Poland," Spiteri admitted.
"It was my worst performance with the Malta team.
"But the most important thing is to learn from such bad experiences. I think that I have matured a lot since that game and if I'm handed the responsibility to take charge of penalty kicks I'm sure that I won't let the team down again."
Damien Neill's Squad
K. Mason, J. Ramage, I. Borda, T. Webb, H. Collins, L. Watts, D. St George, C. Vassallo, S. Kempster, G. Kennedy, S. Haycock, M. Whitley, J. Dimond, M. Mirabelli, R. Spiteri, D. Busuttil, J. Caruana, T. Watts, S. Micallef, N. Warren, O. Sacco, J. Sultana.