Switzerland beats Malta 29-3 to put itself one victory away from promotion
Saturday, April 9th, 2016, Zurich - At the Suisse Rugby Day in Stadion Utogrund in Zurich, Switzerland won its last European Nations Cup Division 2 A home game of the cycle by beating Malta 29 to 3 in front of 1600 excited spectators.
The first ever rugby international to be held in Zurich was a big success thanks to a great crowd who came to witness a strong performance by the home team.
The Edelweiss had a strong start into the match, and applied strong pressure to their opponents right from the kickoff. This paid off quickly, with Switzerland’s Simon Perrod slotting a penalty kick at the 2nd minute of the match. Four minutes later, the Swiss pack pushed over a maul to score the first Swiss try, with Captain Cyril Lin touching the ball down to make the early score 10-0. Before this first half was out, Swiss winger Florian Escoffier added one more try making the halftime score 15-0.
After the intermission, it was Malta who got onto the scoreboard first, with James Morris netting 3 points with a penalty kick just 2 minutes into the half. However, this was to be the only score for the guests, who suffered under the Swiss pressure throughout the match. Switzerland scored two more tries in the 62nd and 69th minute thereby netting the victory and the bonus point.
With this victory, Switzerland is now 3 points behind the Czech Republic in group 2A, however, the Czechs have played one match more than Switzerland. Thanks to the victory against Malta, Switzerland is now in a position to be able to earn its own promotion into division 1B by winning next Saturday against Croatia in Zagreb.
Find the Match Sheet below in PDF form.
To watch the Match Switzerland – Malta in replay, go to www.rugbyeurope.tv
To join the Swiss team on its historic mission to seek promotion in Croatia on Saturday, April 16th, contact marketing(AT)Suisserugby.com for special travel packages.
