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Late Cyprus try condemns Malta Rugby to defeat

50th International match for the Cyprus Moufflons ends in VICTORY !

Malta’s Mark Davey tries to power his way through against Cyprus. Photo: Christine Borg

MALTA 16

CYPRUS 18

A last-gasp try from Georgios Agathokleus condemned Malta to a heart-breaking defeat to Cyprus in a Conference South One match at the Hibs Stadium.

It looked as though that Malta had done enough to rally from a 13-5 first-half deficit when two penalty conversions from Chris Dudman had given them a 16-13 lead with only ten minutes left.

However, the lively Cypriots kept fighting till the end and managed to surprise the Malta rearguard with a lightning counter attack which was brilliantly concluded by Agathokleus to hand his team their first win in the group.

Cyprus took little time to settle down as they immediately started to move the ball sideways with the Maltese forced to concede a penalty. Marcus Holden kicked the ball between the posts to put the visitors 3-0 ahead.

Malta’s response was instant as straight from kick off they barged into the Cypriot half. They managed to force a line-out two metres out and from it Harry Collins dinked his way past his marker to touch the ball home. Dudman missed the conversion to leave Malta 5-3 ahead.

The Cypriots were proving a handful in this first part of the match with the Maltese using all their experience and resilience to deny their opponents from scoring the first try of the match.

A handling mistake from Richard Gum paved the way for Cyprus to break through the Malta defence with Dom Georgiou scoring underneath the posts and Holden scoring the conversion to put Cyprus 10-5 ahead.

More woes followed for Malta as an infringement at half pitch handed a penalty to Cyprus with Holden again finding the posts to extend his team’s lead to 13-3.

The Maltese players kept their calm and Gum made amends for his earlier mistake when he whizzed his way past three players to touch home. Dudman again missed the conversion to leave Cyprus 13-10 ahead at the interval.

After the break, Malta tried to put themselves back into the game and they managed to restore parity when Dudman converted a penalty from half pitch – 13-13.

It was anyone’s game now with both sides giving everything to pick up valuable points that would put them in the driving seat.

Midway through the second half Malta won a penalty and Dudman made no mistake to give the home side a precious three-point lead – 16-13.

Dudman could have further extended Malta’s lead from another penalty but this time he missed the target to leave the match wide open.

That proved costly as the Cypriots orchestrated a swift counter attack through Georgiou who set up Georgios Agathokleus to touch home and earn his team the win.

Malta: M. Stoker, D. Holliday, T. Galdes, B. Borg, M. Davey, D. Deguara, H. Collins 5, D. Apsee, T. Holloway, R. Holloway, R. Gum 5, D. Busuttil, C. Dudman 6, L. Matthews, J. O’Brien.

Subs used: G. Scicluna, M. Barbara, D. Cerketa.

Cyprus: G. Cosma, M. Zakakiotis, E. Faulder, S. Yarrow, B. Cosma, J. Goodwin, M. Mladenovich, C. Joannou, A. Pantechis, M. Holden 8, G. Agathokleous 5, D. Georgiou 5, C. Georgiou, V. Antoniou, S. Burns.

Subs used: P. Pouroullis.

Referee Ethan Glass (Switzerland).


Full International record

Since their first match in 2007, Cyprus have lost only 15 matches out of Fifty. They recorded their first win over Malta on the 23rd November by 18 to 16 to celebrate their 50th International, which now gives them a 70% winning ratio.

Cyprus are not a full member of the International Rugby Board, so none of their international matches count towards the IRB World Rankings.

Date Home Score Away Venue Competition
24 March 2007 Cyprus  39 – 3  Greece Paphos Friendly
(First International)
29 October 2007 Cyprus  29 – 0  Azerbaijan Paphos 2006-08 ENC 3D
31 October 2007 Cyprus  19 – 10  Monaco Nicosia 2006-08 ENC 3D
3 November 2007 Cyprus  38 – 8  Slovakia Paphos 2006-08 ENC 3D
6 September 2008 Israel  23 – 14  Cyprus Netanya 2006-08 ENC 3C/3D Play-off
29 November 2008 Azerbaijan  3 – 37  Cyprus Baku 2008-10 ENC 3D
6 December 2008 Cyprus  24 – 3  Monaco Episkopi 2008-10 ENC 3D
14 March 2009 Cyprus  33 – 7  Slovakia Episkopi 2008-10 ENC 3D
21 March 2009 Bosnia and Herzegovina  6 – 8  Cyprus Zenica 2008-10 ENC 3D
14 November 2009 Monaco  5 – 44  Cyprus Monaco 2008-10 ENC 3D
6 March 2010 Cyprus  59 – 0  Azerbaijan Paphos 2008-10 ENC 3D
27 March 2010 Cyprus  15 – 0  Bosnia and Herzegovina Paphos 2008-10 ENC 3D
20 November 2010 Greece  13 – 33  Cyprus Athens 2010-12 ENC 2D
12 March 2011 Cyprus  55 – 8  Bulgaria Paphos 2010-12 ENC 2D
26 March 2011 Cyprus  70 – 10  Finland Paphos 2010-12 ENC 2D
7 May 2011 Luxembourg  0 – 50  Cyprus Luxembourg 2010-12 ENC 2D
8 October 2011 Cyprus  48 – 7  Luxembourg Paphos 2010-12 ENC 2D
28 April 2012 Bulgaria  3 – 94  Cyprus Pernik 2010-12 ENC 2D
26 May 2012 Cyprus  72 – 5  Greece Paphos 2010-12 ENC 2D
9 June 2012 Finland  5 – 52  Cyprus Helsinki 2010-12 ENC 2D
17 November 2012 Austria  20 – 54  Cyprus Vienna 2012-14 ENC 2C
8 December 2012 Cyprus  49 – 8  Slovenia Paphos 2012-14 ENC 2C
16 March 2013 Cyprus  79 – 10  Bulgaria Paphos 2012-14 ENC 2C
20 April 2013 Hungary  15 – 16  Cyprus Esztergom 2012-14 ENC 2C
9 November 2013 Slovenia  3 – 34  Cyprus Ljubljana 2012-14 ENC 2C
(25th International)
30 November 2013 Cyprus  22 – 8  Austria Paphos 2012-14 ENC 2C
26 April 2014 Bulgaria  15 – 46  Cyprus Sofia 2012-14 ENC 2C
17 May 2014 Cyprus  46 – 13  Hungary Paphos 2012-14 ENC 2C
1 November 2014 Cyprus  30 – 10  Andorra Paphos 2014-16 ENC 2B
(World Record 24th Straight TEST Victory)
15 November 2014 Latvia  39 – 20  Cyprus Riga 2014-16 ENC 2B
28 March 2015 Hungary  15 – 17  Cyprus Szazhalombatta 2014-16 ENC 2B
2 May 2015 Cyprus  20 – 26  Lithuania Paphos 2014-16 ENC 2B
7 November 2015 Cyprus  3 – 31  Latvia Paphos 2014-16 ENC 2B
28 November 2015 Andorra  22 – 13  Cyprus Andorra la Vella 2014-16 ENC 2B
9 April 2016 Cyprus  15 – 3  Hungary Paphos 2014-16 ENC 2B
23 April 2016 Lithuania  47 – 15  Cyprus Vilnius 2014-16 ENC 2B
23 October 2016 Malta  31 – 3  Cyprus Paola 2016-17 Conference 1 South
12 November 2016 Cyprus  28 – 38  Israel Paphos 2016-17 Conference 1 South
11 February 2017 Andorra  15 – 14  Cyprus Andorra la Vella 2016-17 Conference 1 South
6 May 2017 Cyprus  27 – 29  Croatia Paphos 2016-17 Conference 1 South
11 November 2017 Cyprus  42 – 5  Austria Paphos 2017-18 Conference 2 South
14 November 2017 Slovakia  6 – 38  Cyprus Piestany 2017-18 Conference 2 South
24 March 2018 Cyprus  17 – 5  Slovenia Paphos 2017-18 Conference 2 South
28 April 2018 Serbia  35 – 17  Cyprus Belgrade 2017-18 Conference 2 South
20 October 2018 Croatia  46 – 24  Cyprus Split 2018-19 Conference 1 South
10 November 2018 Cyprus  22 – 34  Israel Paphos 2018-19 Conference 1 South
23 March 2019 Cyprus  10 – 37  Malta Paphos 2018-19 Conference 1 South
6 April 2019 Bosnia and Herzegovina  22 – 23  Cyprus Zenica 2018-19 Conference 1 South
19 October 2019 Cyprus  20 – 25  Croatia Paphos 2018-19 Conference 1 South
23 November 2019  Malta 16 – 18  Cyprus Paola 2018-19 Conference 1 South
(50th International)

Overall

Against Pld W L D Pts
for
Pts
agst
% Won
 Bulgaria 4 4 0 0 274 36 100%
 Hungary 4 4 0 0 94 46 100%
 Austria 3 3 0 0 118 33 100%
 Azerbaijan 3 3 0 0 125 3 100%
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 3 3 0 0 46 28 100%
 Greece 3 3 0 0 144 21 100%
 Monaco 3 3 0 0 87 18 100%
 Slovakia 3 3 0 0 109 21 100%
 Slovenia 3 3 0 0 100 16 100%
 Finland 2 2 0 0 122 15 100%
 Luxembourg 2 2 0 0 98 7 100%
 Andorra 3 1 2 0 57 47 33%
 Malta 3 1 2 0 31 84 33%
 Croatia 3 0 3 0 71 100 0%
 Israel 3 0 3 0 64 95 0%
 Latvia 2 0 2 0 23 70 0%
 Lithuania 2 0 2 0 35 73 0%
 Serbia 1 0 1 0 17 35 0%
Total 50 35 15 0 1615 748 70.00%

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