Malta’s team that took part in the Men’s European Sevens championship in Riga, Latvia, finished fifth overall out of 12 participating nations.

Serbia won the tournament (Dvisiion 3) with home side Latvia second, Hungary third and Greece fourth.

Malta finished ahead of Bulgaria, Monaco, Luxembourg, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Norway, Slovakia and Estonia.

The Pool A matches saw Malta obtaining two wins and suffering three defeats, finishing in fourth place. Latvia topped the pool with a maximum 15 points. They were followed by Hungary 11, Bulgaria 11, Malta nine, Norway eight and Estonia six.

Malta beat Norway 26-7 in its opening match, then beat Estonia 17-5, lost against Latvia 29-7, lost against Bulgaria 21-5 and also lost against Hungary 22-7.

In the final round, for the placings, Malta beat Monaco 24-7 and Bulgaria 19-14.

In the final, Serbia defeated Latvia 24-19.

The squad for this year was revamped with 15s’ national team players Vincent Stivala, Sam Borg, veteran Michael Bonavia and Max Galea.

Matthew Camilleri, Matthew Von Brockdorff and Jurgen Pavanello were selected for a second time after collecting their first sevens’ caps during last year’s Cyprus held Sevens tournament, organised by the European Rugby Association FIRA-AER.

Overseas based players Rob and Tom Holloway plus the inclusion of 19-year old Jonathan Bonnici complete the Maltese squad.

The players had been training since May and the training sessions were held jointly with the Malta A national team players under the shrewd guidance of national coach Damian Neill and monitored closely by Malta A coach Matthew Mirabelli.

In Cyprus, last year, the Maltese team took part in their first ever participation in a men’s sevens circuit.