Malta 21
Croatia 14

Malta tamed a powerful Croatia side yesterday to chalk up their first victory in the FIRA-AER Division 2A after a hard-fought encounter at the Hibs Stadium.

It was a determined display from Damien Neill’s men who were aware of the task facing them as Croatia had fast built a reputation of a strong, physical side but, in the end, the locals, again backed by a vociferous crowd, prevailed to get their campaign back on track after two successive defeats.

The hosts held possession for long stretches and, inspired by the strong running of Rob Holloway and the excellent James O’Brien, they did well to score points at vital moments to claim a priceless victory ahead of next Saturday’s away match at Sweden, the group leaders.

Croatia were expected to run the show in the opening half with the forceful wind blowing behind their backs. But Malta held sway and on 15 minutes a fine incursion from Holloway forced the visitors to concede a penalty a few metres away from the goalposts. O’Brien made no mistake to put the team 3-0 ahead.

Malta’s bursts were causing problems to the Croatian backline and six minutes later O’Brien had another chance from a penalty but hit badly.

Then, five minutes from the break, the Maltese won a line-out and the ball came to Luke Watts who forced his way over the line. O’Brien again failed to convert.

Malta led 8-0 at that juncture, an unexpected outcome considering they were playing against the wind.

However, the visitors hit back just before the break and in their first real raid Tonci Buzov outwitted the Maltese defence for a try between the goalposts. Dusan Hakaraia completed the conversion and with the score now reading 8-7 the game was back on.

But, Neill’s tactics worked wonders in the second half as a composed Malta team again held an edge over the muscular Croatians who tried to overpower their opponents in scrums and mauls for possible openings.

Malta stretched their lead on 65 minutes when Holloway released Matthew Camilleri on the right flank and the Stompers wingers stormed home for Malta’s second try. With no wind distractions this time, O’Brien was successful with a fine conversion.

The Waterloo full-back was again on the mark eight minutes later, making no mistake from a central penalty to increase the lead to 18-7.

Croatia were second best on the field and O’Brien maintained his scoring vein from another penalty before Malta were made to play the last few minutes with a player less following a yellow card to James Kirk.

Miroslav Mandic partially lifted the visitors’ hopes with a late try (converted by Hakaraia) but the Maltese held out for a merited 21-14 win.

Malta: K. Mason, H. Collins, A. Livesey, L. Watts 5, C. Cassar, J. Howland, P. Calgaro, C. Sammut, T. Holloway, R. Holloway, O. Sacco, D. Busuttil, J. Kirk, M. Camilleri 5, J. O’Brien 11.

Subs used: V. Stivala, C. Vassallo, D. Cerketa.

Croatia: M. Borozan, G. Culic, V. Udovicic, D. Drazenovic, F. Ujakovic, T. Gomuzak, A. Drazina, T. Buzov 5, I. Zelic, S. Sekovanec, N. Jurisic, T. Burazin, C. Brown, M. Mandic 5, D. Hakaria 4.

Sub used: L. Juresko.

Referee: Felix Villegas (Portugal).

Standings: Sweden (2-0-0) 9; Malta (1-0-2) 7; Latvia (1-0-1) 6; Lithuania (1-0-1) 5; Croatia (1-0-2) 5.

Comments

Damien Neill (Malta coach I’m really proud of the boys because they played their hearts out today. We played Croatia before but this was their best team by far.

“This win takes some pressure off our backs so we can start thinking on our next match against Sweden. In the next two days we will assess the condition of our players before finalising the squad.”

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