Malta go down 34-14 in Split

Malta's hopes of reducing the gap on the leading teams in the Division 2B group were dashed yesterday after a 34-14 defeat to front-runners Croatia in Split. Croatia chalked up their fifth victory in the competition.

Coach Damien Neill had high hopes after the national team's victories in Sweden and Latvia last season but there was little Malta could do yesterday as they struggled to overcome the absence of several key players.

Neill will now hope that the upset to Croatia will not have a negative effect on his players with next weekend's crucial match at home to fourth-placed Sweden approaching fast.

Malta are still third in the standings, three points ahead of Sweden who were beaten 19-16 at home to the Netherlands yesterday. The Dutch have maximum points from five matches but are still second behind Croatia, who have played six matches.

Despite playing without the likes of Guy Kennedy, Paul Marzella, Donovan Felice, Daryl Psaila and Mick McArdle, Malta matched Croatia for most of the first half. In fact, the hosts only went in for the break leading 8-7, Malcolm Attard scoring first with a try.

However, the hosts raised their game by a few notches after the interval to add three more tries with Rowen Spiteri replying for Neill's men.

Malta's starting line-up: I. Borda, H. Collins, P. Bradley, L. Watts, J. Cutajar, M. Bonavia, J. Howland, M. Whitney, J. Bartolo, R. Spiteri, L. Culnane, D. Busuttil, M. Attard, V. Stivala, J. O'Brien.

Subs: T. Pace Moore, N. Gatt, C. Cassar, M. Azzopardi, M. Mirabelli, J. Finlason, D. Burke.

Other result: Sweden vs Netherlands 16-19.

Next matches: (Saturday) Malta vs Sweden; Netherlands vs Latvia.

Standings: Croatia (5-0-1) 16; Netherlands (5-0-0) 15; Malta (2-0-3) 9; Sweden (1-0-4) 7; Latvia (0-0-5) 5.