MRFU wants more home-based players in national squad

The Maltese rugby team will be hosting Sweden at the Hibs Ground on Saturday afternoon in a crucial Nations Cup Division 2B qualifier.

Malta lost to Croatia last week but victory over the Swedes would all but secure the team's status for the next two seasons and, perhaps, encourage the national team selectors to introduce more locally-based players in the set-up.

"Rugby has made giant strides forward in the past few years," MRFU president Martin Galea told reporters in a press conference yesterday hosted by sponsors Cisk Lager and Mazda.

"After 10 years of international rugby we are currently 54th in the IRB list and that is some achievement for a small organisation like ours. However, the most exciting aspect of our story is the number of home-based players coming through.

"Against Sweden we shall have 10 players from the MRFU league. The number is significant but we are not stopping here as we want to add to that number."

The game in Malta has made giant strides but Galea admitted that the MRFU needs more assistance from various quarters to keep the development going.

"For sure, we are in desperate need of training facilities," Galea said.

"For the qualifier in Split our squad had to travel abroad to prepare as there were no adequate pitches available.

"At the moment we are in discussion with Kunsill Malti għall-Isport to identify a site where we can establish our training headquarters. There are two areas that we are looking at and if we get the green light this project could get going in the next few months."

Last Saturday, Malta lost 34-14 to Croatia but retained the third place in the standings with nine points from five matches, two ahead of Sweden.

Despite the upset in Split, national coach Damien Neill sounded himself satisfied with the performance of his team, singling out the locally-based players and 19-year-old Thomas Pace Moore who was making his debut.

"We adopted a positive approach and I was satisfied with the team's effort," Neill said.

"Although we had several regulars missing there was balance in the team and the newcomers gave their all. Unfortunately, Croatia took control in key moments and that cost us the match.

"We are now well aware of Sweden progress since we beat them last year. Last week, they only lost 19-16 to Holland away.

"But we play to win whatever the circumstances and, again, I urge our fans to give us their backing on Saturday."

Meanwhile, it was also revealed yesterday that the MRFU will be hosting the European Rugby Association Congress in June 2010.

Delegates from 43 countries will be here to discuss various interesting topics on the development of the game in our continent.

Malta squad: I. Borda, H. Collins, P. Bradley, T. Watts, J. Cutajar, M. Bonavia, J. Howland, M. Whitney, J. Bartolo, R. Spiteri, L. Culnane, D. Busuttil, M. Attard, V. Stivala, J. O'Brien, T. Pace Moore, N. Gatt, C. Cassar, M. Azzopardi, M. Mirabelli, J. Finlason, O. Sacco.

Playing Saturday: Netherlands vs Latvia; Malta vs Sweden.

Standings: Croatia 16; Netherlands 15; Malta 9; Sweden 7; Latvia 5.