News Feature

Croatian rugby team victorious in match

27 October 2008

Croatia beat Malta in a rugby European Nations Cup qualifying match on Saturday when they played away from home.

The final result was 16-18 after a penalty was scored by the Croats in stoppage time, taking victory away from Malta who had been winning.

Both sides missed a penalty in the opening ten minutes before Croatia took the lead with seven points. Malta then gained three points from a conversion.

Damien Neill, manager of Malta, told the Sunday Times it was not the team's best performance as they had several new faces in the squad which showed in their play.

"Our possession was very poor, conceding too many knock-ons in attack and we lost several good openings to finish off Croatia," he added.

By halftime Malta were ahead 10-7, but back on the pitch Croatia equalised. The guests then took the lead to make it 10-15.

The Croats are currently ranked 44th in the International Rugby Board (IRB) table, while Malta, who are playing in the cup for the first time, are 56th. ADNFCR-1197-ID-18845480-ADNFCR