In front of a packed and colourful Hibs Ground, Malta’s national rugby team beat Denmark 28-18 to obtain the needed ten-point victory to go through to tne next round.

It was a heroic last second effort by the Maltese who led 23-18 till the final seconds, a worthless victory, but a try in the sixth minute of added time gave the Maltese the needed five extra points to oust the Danes.

The Danes started the match on a high dominating the early stages , but the Maltese went ahead with a penalty kick by Paul Marzella, after the same player had missed another penalty kick.

Two furhter penalty kicks by Morton Nielsen and Paul Marzella kept the Maltese 6-3 in front until the 27th minute when the Maltese made a brilliant try through Joe Sultana and a conversion by Marzella for a 13-3 score line.

Just before the break one of Denmark’s best player Regan Sue score a drop ball to make the score 13-6 at half-time.

In the second half the Maltese lokked a tired lot and the Danes held territorial superiority even scoring a try from Kristensen with Nielsen converting to make it 13-11. Paul Marzella ran the whole length of the field for an incredible try, and on 25 minutes Luke Watts ran through for another try to make 23-11 for Malta.

Denmark made a desperate effort and on 34 minutes obtained another try through Regan Sue with Nielsen converting to make it 23-18.

The Maltese bravely pushed everything forward in the last minutes of the game, which were constantly played in the Danes’ last metres and Steve Haycock was our hero with his try on 86 minutes, putting Malta in the next round.