The Malta national team were off to a flying start yesterday in their 2007 World Cup qualifiers when they beat Switzerland 17-8 in Avusy.

Tries from Nick Warren and Charles Van Moll and two conversions and a penalty from Rohan Spiteri sealed a significant win for the Maltese team against one of the top teams in the group.

Switzerland, 37th in the world, were expected to be too strong for the Maltese, ranked 59th in the International Rugby Board list. However, the determination of the Maltese players again stood out and inspired by some powerful play from Maltese/Australian debutant Dean Zammit they handed the Swiss their second defeat of the group. They lost against Poland 20-15 last month.

"It was an extraordinary performance," Malta coach Damien Neil told The Sunday Times yesterday.

"Few people had given us a chance but the boys played with great passion today and they really deserved to win. Our pack today was very strong, giving little space to the Swiss to make any inroads through their forwards.

"Our attacking play was superb too, we made good use of the ball whenever we were in possession and our forwards fully profited from the space conceded by our opponents."

Welsh coach Neil, who took over the national team's reins from his compatriot Graham Richards earlier this month, said that the team was looking forward to the November 6 qualifier against Poland at Marsa.

"This success will be certainly a great injection of confidence for the team ahead of next month's clash against Poland," Neil said.

"However, we must certainly keep our feet firmly on the ground because it's going to be another tough test for us. This team can achieve great things and hopefully we will be driven by the support of the Maltese public."