The Malta rugby national team bounced back from last week's disappointment in Croatia with a crushing 34-17 victory over Lithuania in a FIRA/AER Division 2A qualifier at the Hibs Stadium this afternoon.

James O'Brien, back from injury, put the Maltese in a commanding 9-3 lead inside the first 15 minutes when he scored three penalty kicks while Donatas Vilimavicius bridged the gap for the Lithuanians.

Things got even better for Malta on 25 minutes when Rob Holloway stole possession 10 metres out and sped through to score the first try of the match.

O'Brien duly scored the conversion to put Malta 16-3 ahead.

On the half hour Rob Holloway again wriggled his way through the Lithuanian defence before releasing Mark Davey who easily sped beyond the goalline for another try.

O'Brien scored the conversion to put the Maltese in a commanding 23-3 lead.Points kept flowing for Malta and on 33 minutes the Lithuanians conceded another penalty and O'Brien was on hand to convert to take his personally tally to 16 points and stretch his team's lead to 26-6.

The visitors quickly profited from their numerical advantage as they found some space in the Malta defence and Mindaugas Misevicius scored his team's first try which was converted by Vilimavicius to leave Malta 26-10 ahead at the interval.

But on the restart the Maltese soon regain command and an O'Brien penalty coupled with a Vince Stivala effort sealed the win.

Lithuania bridged the gap with a Tomas Zibolis try which was converted by Vilimavicius but that was too little too late as Malta eased to victory.