Malta 10
Switzerland 19
A strong kicking performance from Simon Perrod dashed Malta’s hopes of winning yesterday’s crucial Division 2A qualifier as Switzerland coasted home to a 19-10 victory at a packed Hibs Stadium.
The match was labelled as must-win for either side to maintain their bid to win promotion to Division 1B as well as to keep alive their hopes of progressing to the World Cup qualifiers.
It was Switzerland who produced the goods on the day. Inspired by the excellent kicking of scrum-half Perrod, scorer of nine points, the Swiss contained the erratic Maltese who looked a shadow of the team that won so convincingly against Lithuania last November.
James O’Brien’s reliable kicking deserted him yesterday while the team’s passing was not good enough to break down the solid Swiss who have now moved on top of the standings on nine points, just one ahead of the Netherlands with Malta third on five points.
Damien Neill welcomed back Sam Borg who missed the win over Lithuania through injury as the Malta coach could bank on a full complement yesterday.
Switzerland were the faster team out of the blocks. They were awarded a penalty 20 metres out and Perrod converted.
The visitors’ strength in mauls seemed to unsettle the hosts in the early stages as Malta were also forced to contend with the added disadvantage of playing against the wind.
More trouble beckoned Malta on 13 minutes as a miscued clearance by O’Brien hit a Swiss player with the ball falling kindly to Cyril Lin who broke through to score the first try of the match. Perrod missed the conversion to leave his team 8-0 ahead.
Malta received a boost on 20 minutes when Lin was yellow-carded, leaving his team a player short for the next 10 minutes.
O’Brien had the chance to narrow the gap from a penalty but his shot flew just wide of the posts. Malta finally made their pressure felt on the half hour when Robert Holloway found a gap in the Swiss defence before setting up Thomas Holloway who crossed past the goal-line.
O’Brien missed the conversion and Switzerland led 8-5.
The visitors soon hit back as they won a penalty a few metres out and the ever-reliable Perrod converted to make it 11-5.
Just minutes after Lin returned to the pitch, the Swiss looked to have suffered another blow when Guyou was sin-binned just before the half-time whistle.
On the restart Switzerland had the chance to stretch their lead when they were awarded a penalty but this time Perrod, hampered by the wind, hit wide.
The Swiss continued to dominate proceedings with Malta struggling to cause any threat to the visiting defence as their poor passing in key areas of the match spoiled their efforts.
Instead it was Perrod who again put his name on the scoresheet on the hour when he converted a penalty to put Switzerland 14-5 ahead.
Malta needed a source of inspiration to get back into the match and that arrived just past the hour when Robert Holloway initiated the move which saw Vince Stivala speed through before releasing O’Brien who scored Malta’s second try to bridge the gap to 14-10.
However, home celebrations were tempered by the yellow card to Luke Watts who left Malta a man short for the rest of the match.
Switzerland quickly capitalised as they launched an irresistible driving maul which ended with Jonathan Wullschleger scoring the try.
Malta
K. Mason, A. Kennedy, A. Livesey, C. Cassar, D. Deguara, L. Watts, S. Borg, D. Apsee, T. Hollway 5, R. Holloway, V. Stivala, D. Busuttil, T. Quarendon, M. Camilleri, J. O’Brien 5.
Subs used: J. Morris, D. Cerketa.
Switzerland
C. Lafuye, M. Paul, B. Schaerer, N. Guyou, M. Bernath-Yendt, C. Coulot, J. Wullschleger 5, C. Lin 5, S. Perrod 9, B. Camps, S. Hirsch, M. Guyou, G. Montiel, B. Doy, T. Gery.
Subs used: I. Mowat, M. Lucon, E. Gombas.
Referee: V. Iordachescu (Romania).
Next fixtures:
Saturday: Netherlands vs Malta; Switzerland vs Lithuania.
Standings: Switzerland (2-0-1) 9; Netherlands (2-0-0) 8; Malta (1-0-1) 5; Croatia (1-0-1) 4; Lithuania (0-0-2) 0.