The Malta National women’s 7s rugby team has just returned from the European 7s championship that was held the past weekend in Gent, Belgium.

Malta were seeded in pool A alongside, Scotland, Georgia, Finland and Norway.

The team lost all its qualifying matches, but then beat Israel to finish in ninth place in the ranking list.

The team got off to a slow start losing the first game 0-15 to Norway. In the second game, they suffered another defeat against Georgia 0-26.

The third game against Scotland allowed Daniela Casha to get the first points on the board for the team with a try. The final score was 05-29. Malta were the only team to score against Scotland and to concede the lowest number of points against them on Saturday.

On Sunday morning they faced Finland in the first game and again lost 0-17. This left the team facing Israel to fight for 9th place and the Bowl trophy. Malta put in a spirited performance with great try saving tackles from Marilyn Grech who also scored the one and only try of the game which Malta went on to win 7-0.

The team was led by Marion Azzopardi and Amanda Cassar throughout the tournament, captain and vice captain respectively.

The team still have a lot of progress to make to be able to compete for a top spot but both the coach, Carmelo Longo, and his assistant, Richard Twigg, believe that with time and self belief this is possible.

In addition next year, the selection pool will be bigger as some of the young players will qualify to play next year.

The team returned with a trophy and are planning to organise their own mini 7s tournament in April next year.

The squad consisted of the following players:

Players Marion Azzopardi (captain), Amanda Cassar (vice captain) Barbara Caruana, Beverie Sultana, Daniella Casha, Dorin Jager, Vanessa Attard, Maria Spiteri, Lucienne Desira, Maryli Rodienne Bugeja, Marion Pullicino.

Coaches Carmelo Llongo, Richard Twigg.

Team Manager Graziella Jones