Malta start with away match in Switzerland

Malta captain Christoffel Diamantino today becomes the most capped player for the rugby national team when leading the side for their first World Cup 2007 qualifier in Switzerland.

Diamantino, who played 13 times for Malta, travelled with the squad last week for a short training camp in Bath, England, prior to today's match.

With the Marsa training grounds unavailable, the Malta Rugby Football Union were left to look for other alternatives to prepare the team.

Here, the assistance of Danny Sacco was instrumental as he intervened to make the Bath Rugby Club premises available for the national squad, currently led by coaching trio Damien Neill, Bob Watts and Adam Magro. The latter holds dual citizenship and also plays in the Australian league.

In Bath, there was ample time for the technical staff and players to get to know each other better as new tactics were tested.

Switzerland are a tough proposition and enjoy a better ranking than Malta in the international list.

In Berne, the MRFU is represented by Pierre Mangion and Pierre Azzopardi. The technical staff also includes manager Mike Beerman and physio Steve Cilia.

Malta play a second qualifier at home vs Poland on November 6.

The squad: Michael Bonavia, Mark Cuschieri, Martin Cuschieri, Christoffel Diamantino, John Dimmond, Daniel Grima, Steve Haycock, Steve Kempster, Adam Magro, Kyle Mason, Matthew Mirabelli, Jason Ramage, Rohan Spiteri, Dominic St George, Joe Sultana, Chris Vassallo, Charlie von Moll, Nick Warren, Tom Watts, Tom Webb, Steve Worthington and Dean Zammit.