The national team's commitments in the FIRA Nations Cup Division 2B came to a close last week with a 17-16 upset to Andorra in La Vella.
Despite the negative outcome, the team still managed to retain its status in the third echelon of European rugby. They finished level on points with the bottom-placed Andorrans but the Maltese enjoyed a superior points difference.
This week I spoke with national coach Damien Neill to get his overall assessment on Malta's participation in the Nations Cup and the domestic league. The Welshman was pleased that the national team had managed to avoid the drop even though he was not happy with the performance in La Vella.
"We could have done better against Andorra," Neill told The Times.
"We knew that their game plan was to exploit their bigger pack and drive the ball forward. Our chief aim was to keep them out of our 22 and avoid scrums. We did that perfectly in the first half. In fact, we totally dominated as the 16-5 scoreline at the interval shows.
"But in the second half, things were different. The pitch got heavier and we made some schoolboy mistakes which Andorra duly capitalised. Unfortunately, the match officials were not on their best day either. At one point, Andorra had an extra man on the field. But somehow we still survived and that what matters most."
Neill said that having retained the Division 2B status is an achievement for the Maltese rugby federation and he was now aiming for a better performance in the next campaign, starting in November.
"It's a great achievement for the team to stay at this level. We played against teams who are 20 places higher than us in the rankings and besides that their rugby set-up is far more advanced than ours.
"Countries like Croatia and Poland have huge resources but still we kept our place in the group.
"But now it's time to try and take the MRFU to another level. It's important that we increase the base of players on the islands and that can only be achieved by investing heavily at grassroot levels.
"We need more players in the local league and to achieve that this summer we are embarking on two projects aimed at attracting more newcomers to the sport."
Neill, however, believes that if the national team is to move forward the domestic league has to be strengthened.
While referee Steve Busuttil continued to hone his experience on the international scene, Kavallieri regained the championship crown at home after wresting the title from outgoing champions Stompers.
These two sides dominated the local scene in 2007/2008 as Overseas, Alligators and Sharks focused mainly on new talent but played second fiddle to the two front runners in MRFU competitions.
"We have to get more teams figuring in local competitions," Neill said.
"That would increase the number of matches played regularly and the Malta-based players will have more opportunities to improve their game.
"The progress of our national team in the past four years has been outstanding but still there is room for more. In 2004, we had only two locally-based players in the squad, now that number has gone up to seven.
"We have players like Daryl Psaila and Matthew Mirabelli who have stepped up their game to another level and I can assure it won't be long before they will be starting matches for us on a more regular basis."
Neill admitted that the national team needed to play more international matches during the year but lack of funds was hampering their plans. The construction of the proposed rugby ground at Marsa could help to attract foreign teams.
"I hope that the project of the rugby ground will start soon as we desperately need to have our own premises. Having our own stadium will not only help our players to train in better conditions but it will also give us the opportunities to host international matches.
"We only play four internationals a year and that is not enough. At the moment the ground plans are still on hold but I hope that the authorities will help us to get this project going as it is crucial for the development of rugby."