World Cup qualifier round-up

November 03 2008

Belgium, Holland, and Slovenia all won as expected on a Saturday of World Cup qualifiers, but the big shock of the day came in Vaneborg, Sweden, where Malta emerged victorious.

Malta's flay-half Matthew Jarrett kicked the winning penalty in the 9-6 victory with seven minutes to go in a match where the Maltese spent long periods on the back foot but never caved in.

Sweden's Thomas Arvidsson kicked his team into a 6-0 lead before Malta fought their way back into the game.

In the other match in Europe's Division 2B, Holland started their campaign with a tough 18-12 win against Croatia. The Dutch scored all their points in an early 18-minute burst, including a length-of-the-pitch try, and now travel to Latvia next week with confidence.

In Division 3B, Slovenia nicked a 25-19 win in Denmark, and should they win their game in hand - a tough trip to Austria next weekend - they will top the 3B group, quite an achievement in their first season up from 3C.

A little higher up the divisions, Belgium gave an unprecedented 5,000-strong crowd in Brussels cause for cheer by beating the Ukraine 9-8 in a division 2A match.

The Black Devils' full-back Alan Williams kicked all nine Belgian points, landing the winner with three minutes to go. The Ukraine, who scored the only try of the match late in the first half through lock Olesandr Lomakin, will be unhappy not to have built upon their away win in Poland a month ago, but now have home matches against the Czech Republic and Moldova to contend with.

Belgium travel to Moldova in two weeks' time, while the Czech Republic host Poland.