Neill looks to keep upward trend going despite changes

Damien Neill, the rugby national coach, will have eight locally-based players in his Malta squad for this weekend's Nations Cup qualifier against Latvia in Riga.

The Welshman announced his squad yesterday in a meeting with the press during which he also said there will be three new foreign-based players in his group along with the eight squad members who play in the MRFU league.

Ryan Robson (Blaydon RFC, UK), John Attard (Hartpury College, UK) and Mick McArdle (Barking RFC, UK) are the players of Maltese descent who will make their debut for the national team.

Pierre Mangion, of Kavallieri, was promoted from Malta 'A' along with Leo Mifsud, of Stompers. Mifsud replaced Tom Webb, who is unavailable. Also out of the equation are Australia-based trio Rohan Spiteri, Paul Marzella and Dean Zammit.

Malta were promoted to Division 2B thanks to the positive results achieved in the World Cup qualifying campaign last year.

Apart from Latvia on Saturday, Malta face Croatia (home - Nov. 4), Andorra (home - May 12) and Poland (away - May 19). In the only group match played so far, Poland thrashed Andorra 54-8 in Krakow.

Neill reckons the level of rugby will be high at this stage of the competition.

"At the moment we are looking to rebuild our squad," he said.

"There were several changes lately with some dropping out and others coming in but we've still got a valid group.

"Only one team gets promoted and one other is relegated to Division 3. We know it is difficult for us to finish first but I think we're strong enough to avoid bottom place."

At present, Malta is ranked no.50. Only Andorra is lagging behind the Maltese in the IRB rankings. They are no.59.

"True, two teams in the group are ahead of Malta in the international rankings," Neill said.

"However, past experience teaches us that this factor could be misleading at times because you can't be guaranteed of a full squad for each match. There are injuries, suspensions and club commitments to contend with as well.

"Surely, we have to take all our chances and concentrate on each game as the competition evolves."

Malta beat Latvia 10-8 away three years ago. Neill is not laying too much importance on that result.

"Three years are a lot... things change so quickly," he said. "Most of the players in today's squad did not play in that match. We still don't know what strengths and weaknesses Latvia have in the team.

"But, I'm confident we can secure a good result in Riga. We can't look back at this stage."

The MRFU competitions for 2006/07 have yet to start but the national team shaped up with a training camp in September, followed by regular sessions for locally-based players.

Juan Borg Manduca, the MRFU acting president, said good results in Europe were crucial for the development of the game on the islands.

"Rugby has become a big sport in Malta," he said. "This also thanks to the remarkable results of the national team these past few years in particular.

"We are having more youngsters taking up the sport seriously and joining our teams. We have to see that this trend keeps going for rugby to flourish even though we still do not have our own facilities.

"Talks have been going on for months but now we think it is high time we reach agreement with the authorities. Rugby is a fast-growing sport and, in our opinion, deserves better credit."

Meanwhile, it was announced that former Malta manager Mike Beerman has been appointed match commissioner for the Division 3A match between Serbia and Denmark on November 4 in Belgrade.

Malta rugby squad

J. Finlason, R. Robson, L. Culnane, M. Attard, J. Attard, J. Caruana, J. Dimmond, M. Mirabelli, I. Borda, M. McArdle, R. Bonavia, P. Mangion, D. Gasan, P. Allen, G. Kennedy, D. St George, S. Kempster, J. Ramage, O. Sacco, T. Watts, L. Mifsud, E. Zarb.