Malta beats Germany 37–31 in Rugby Europe Trophy
Malta held off Germany’s comeback in its first home Trophy match, securing a second win in two games after promotion from the Conference.
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Malta held off Germany’s comeback in its first home Trophy match, securing a second win in two games after promotion from the Conference.
Malta beat Germany 37–31 in the 2026–27 men’s Rugby Europe Trophy at Tony Bezzina Stadium in Paola on Saturday, 7 November. It was Malta’s 100th international and its first home match in the competition, RugbyPass said.
Malta was promoted from the third-tier Conference, while Germany played in the top-tier Championship last season. Malta had opened its Trophy campaign by coming back from 17–0 down to beat Denmark 36–17; Germany had won its opening game against Lithuania and was ranked eight places above Malta before the match.
Malta raced to a 20–0 lead in the first half-hour. While Germany’s Nikolai Karl Klewinghaus-Hacker was off the field after a yellow card, John Connolly scored a try and Christopher Dudman kicked the conversion and a penalty. Dudman then added a try, its conversion and another penalty.
Germany responded with a converted try by Christophe Edene to reach halftime at 20–7. A Klewinghaus-Hacker penalty and a converted try by Mark Fairhurst cut the deficit to 20–17 by the 55th minute.
Brendan Dalton and substitute George Strickland then scored tries that Dudman converted, taking Malta’s lead to 34–17. Germany answered with converted tries from Hassan Rayan and Aidan Dixon before Connolly’s late penalty completed the scoring.
Dudman, Malta’s inside center, scored 19 points through his try, all four conversions and two penalties. Connolly’s try and penalty and the tries by Dalton and Strickland supplied Malta’s remaining 18 points.
Malta stood second in the Trophy after the match, with Germany third. Germany earned a losing bonus point.
Malta also climbed three places to 39th in the world rankings, returning to the top 40 for the first time since May 2022. Germany fell three places and remained two positions ahead of Malta.
Malta hosts Sweden on Saturday, 14 November, while Germany faces Denmark that weekend. Malta head coach Phil Pretorius, who is South African, said his task after the Germany win was to refocus the players on Sweden. He said 6 players were unavailable because of injuries, work commitments or personal circumstances. He identified Sweden captain and inside center Axel Kalling-Smith and the Swedish forwards’ mauling—when players bind together around a ball carrier and drive forward—as threats his team needed to stop. He said Malta planned to run at Sweden and tackle with confidence.
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