Neill impressed by girls' showing

The Maltese women's team recently travelled to Belgium to take part in the European Sevens Championship which was held in Brussels.

The team, led by national coach Damien Neill, was drawn in Pool A with Moldova, Andorra, Norway, Switzerland and Luxembourg.

The girls lost their first match against Norway 7-5 but then roared back with an emphatic 50-0 win over Luxembourg and a 10-0 victory over Switzerland.

However, the Maltese lost their final match of the opening day against Moldova 15-5 and their hopes of qualification were dashed with another 5-0 upset to Andorra to finish fourth in the group with nine points.

Moldova and Andorra were the two teams that qualified to the semi-finals of the competition as Malta had to settle for a place in the Plate event. They won the platonic honour following victories over Belgium (29-5) and Poland (24-0).

Despite missing out on qualification to the finals, which will be played in France later on this month, Neill said he was pleased with the performance of his players.

"I was impressed with the overall standard of the women's game at the tournament, but more so on the Malta team. I think the girls improved dramatically during the tournament," the Welsh coach said.

"The team scored some very exciting tries and having the second best scoring rate and defence of the tournament was a credit for the hard work they have put into their preparation over the season."

Neill said that Malta's result in the competition takes further significance when one considers the fact that the women's game here is still developing.

"When you think how small the women's game is in Malta, having only three Sevens team set-ups, compared to other countries who boast a very good domestic structure for the women's game, they have done the country proud.

"To go through and win the plate, beating Poland and then Belgium in the final by high scores is an incredible feat and we can only expect better results and better play in future competitions," Neill said.