Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/667669
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 17 APRIL 2016 49 MALTA ..................... 30 ISRAEL ................... 9 MIKE TURNER THE match was brilliantly man- aged by young Welsh referee Craig Evans, who imposed his control in the very first minute, awarding Malta a penalty for holding on to the ball after the tackle, so Malta took an almost immediate three point lead. Mistakes in Israeli handling led to a Malta attack, with Morris putting a perfectly paced kick to be gathered by Holloway to score, Morris converting and Malta stretched the lead to ten points. Abutbul responded for Israel with a penalty against Malta for holding. Thus encouraged Israel, with wind at their backs pressed territorially but Abut- bul missed a drop goal attempt. The Israeli lineout drill was very effective, but a break by Watts for Malta was only stopped by desperate defence. Under pres- sure the Israelis went offside and Morris converted another penalty to build the lead to 13-3. Israel looked dangerous when Maguid pounced on the ball and kicked into the corner. However a superb break out by Malta's Hepburn, which was well sup- ported, was only stopped by a knock on. A little dithering at scrum half led Malta to waste some good chances, and Israel had a slight territorial advan- tage, and scored another pen- alty when a real muddle led to Malta being offside, 13-6. Hard running and good back up led to Wats scoring again for Mal- ta, Morris converting. Israel hit back in the tight scrum for another penalty by Abutbul, to leave the half time score 20-9. At the start of the second half Malta went straight into the attack with two breaks and a drive for Harvey to score, Mor- ris missed an easy kick. Malta tackling always looked capable of dealing with Israeli attacks. For a while their pack camped on the Maltese line but Malta held them out, at least twice the powerful Israeli centre Eli, broke through several tack- les, but was never well enough supported to score. Malta were throwing away opportunities by sloppy handling and poor choic- es in kicking. Collins shone with several driving runs and when the subs came on Malta sud- denly had the better of the tight scrums and drives. Finally Mal- ta scrum drove at the line and Dav y came off the back to score, to reach the final score. A much needed and well de- served win to revive Malta`s for- tunes and confidence. Sport SPORTTODAY RUGBY PHOTOGRAPHY BY IAN STILON PHOTOGRAPHY BY IAN AQUILINA Malta roar back to winning form Malta stormed back to winning form at a sun drenched Hibs Stadium, demolishing a brave Israeli side, scoring four tries to register a bonus point as well as the winners points.