Malta 20
Switzerland 23
A shoddy defensive display cost the national team dearly yesterday as Damien Neill’s men succumbed to a 23-20 defeat to Switzerland at the Hibs Stadium.
There was an understandable air of disappointment among the home players at the final whistle as they knew they had thrown away the match with some poor play in the opening 15 minutes when Switzerland surged to a commanding 18-0 lead.
That left the national team with a mountain to climb even though they fought back admirably and almost managed to cancel the deficit in the end.
However, this second defeat in the group leaves Malta third in the standings with Switzerland edging closer to leaders Czech Republic who were surprisingly held at home by bottom team Israel, 26-26, yesterday.
Prior to kick-off a minute’s silence was observed in memory of Elfed Williams, a founding member of the MRFU Disciplinary Committee. He passed away earlier this month.
Malta gifted Switzerland with their first three points very early in the match when conceding a penalty and Sebastian Dimitri duly converted.
The Swiss fly-half struck again four minutes later when he scored with a drop goal a few metres out to put the visitors 6-0 up.
The Maltese looked rattled and the visitors continued to pile the points when Thibault Gery sped through for the first try of the match. Dimitri made no mistake from the conversion.
The home side seemed to have no answers to the Swiss power play and a driving maul set up Brice Monzeglio for the try – 18-0.
James O’Brien failed to score from a penalty but Malta finally had something to cheer about when Rhodri Apsee powered through for a try. O’Brien scored the conversion.
Malta were playing with more purpose now and an O’Brien penalty just before half-time reduced the gap to 18-10.
But the Swiss started the second half brightly and Ghislain Montiel ran through for a try.
Malta again fought back with skipper Dominic Busuttil powering underneath the posts and O’Brien hitting the conversion between the sticks – 23-17.
Near the end, James Morris set up a tense finale with a drop goal to put Malta just three points behind. But the Swiss held on for victory despite the frantic Maltese efforts to save the match.
Malta: K. Mason, H. Collins, R. Apsee 5, C. Cassar, L. Watts, D. Deguara, D. Apsee, M. Davey, T. Holloway, J. Morris 3, M. Cordle, D. Busuttil 5, T. Quarendon, J. Kirk, J. O’Brien 7.
Subs used: J. Cutajar, D. Holliday, C. Sammut.
Switzerland: C. Lafuye, P. Mathieu, C. Bartschi, E. Alber, N. Guyou, C. Coulot, C. Lin, B. Monzeglio 5, B. Doy, S. Dimitri 8, L. Heinrich, M. Guyou, G. Montiel 5, S. Hirsch, T. Gery 5.
Subs used: L. Pommies, A. Coullon.
Referee: Gert Vissier (Netherlands).
Standings
Czech Republic (3-1-0) 16; Switzerland (3-0-1) 14; Malta (2-0-2) 9; Croatia (1-0-3) 8; Israel (0-1-3) 3.