No tries were scored yesterday as Lithuania beat Malta in the opening Division 2A qualifier 9-6 in Siauliai.

The match turned out to be a tight affair with the visitors holding possession for much of the game but they could not breach the home defence who played solidly to deny Malta from reaching the byeline.

The Lithuanians were effective most from set pieces. They converted two penalty kicks in the first half with Malta bridging the gap thanks to James O’Brien’s kick to trail 6-3 at the interval.

Damian Neill’s Malta again had the edge after the break and drew level thanks to another penalty conversion from O’Brien.

The Maltese pushed forward in search of a winning try in the last 15 minutes but it was Lithuania who struck again from another penalty to seal a vital victory.

The Malta squad is expected back today and preparations immediately get underway tomorrow for Saturday’s qualifier against Latvia at the Hibs Stadium.

Neill is expected to retain the same group of players with leading try scorer Oliver Sacco again out of the game to be near his wife who is expecting the couple’s first baby.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.