| Malta | |
| Union: | Malta Rugby Football Union |
| Nickname: | L-imtaten (The Rams) |
| Emblem: | The Ram |
| Captain: | Dominic Busuttil |
| Coach: | Keith Hopkins |
| Pattern B1: | _redquarters14 |
| Leftarm1: | 000000 |
| Body1: | ffffff |
| Rightarm1: | 000000 |
| Shorts1: | 000000 |
| Socks1: | 000000 |
| World Rugby Rank: | 44 |
| World Rugby Rank Date: | 20 March 2023 |
| First Game: | Moldova 58–8 Malta  (18 November 2000) |
| Largest Win: |  Andorra 3–89 Malta (24 March 2018) |
| Largest Loss: | 81–10 (19 May 2018) |
| World Cup Apps: | 0 |
| World Rugby Max: | 38 |
| World Rugby Max Date: | 7 April 2022 |
| World Rugby Min: | 45 |
| World Rugby Min Date: | 2023 |
The Malta national rugby union team are governed by the Malta Rugby Football Union (MRFU). Although Malta has yet to qualify for the Rugby World Cup, the island state has made remarkable progression since its first international in 2000.
It is currently competing in the Rugby Europe Conference, after topping the Conference 1 South for the past two seasons—2017 and 2018—yet failing to win the play-off to rise to the higher level. The national side is ranked 46th in the world (as of 13 November 2022).
See main article: article and Rugby union in Malta. Malta's national team played their first match on 18 November 2000, against Moldova in Chişinău, which Moldova won 58–8. They played a subsequent match against Belgium that same year in Marsa, which Belgium won 26–0. Malta played four matches in 2001, and they recorded their first win in the fourth of them, against Monaco in Marsa. This was followed by a draw 10–10 with Norway, defeating Lithuania, Austria, Luxembourg, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia-Montenegro, Latvia and Hungary. They then played Moldova in 2004.
Malta then proceeded to enter the 2007 Rugby World Cup European qualification tournament where they were grouped in Pool D of the second round. After finishing third in their pool with two wins from four pool games, Malta entered a play-off along with Denmark, Andorra and Sweden to enter round three. Malta were successful and entered Pool B of round three.
The team is currently ranked 39th in the World Rugby world rankings, their highest ever position. They are coached by Welshman Damian Neill, a former Number 8 in the Welsh Premiership with Aberavon RFC and Maesteg RFC.
| World Cup record | width=1% rowspan=25 | World Cup Qualification record | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | ||||||||||||||
  1987 | Not Invited | Not Invited | |||||||||||||
  1991 | did not enter | did not enter | |||||||||||||
| 1995 | did not enter | did not enter | |||||||||||||
| 1999 | did not enter | did not enter | |||||||||||||
| 2003 | did not qualify | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 27 | 177 | ||||||||
| 2007 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 139 | 200 | |||||||||
| 2011 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 66 | 70 | |||||||||
| 2015 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 73 | 104 | |||||||||
 2019 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 161 | 97 | |||||||||
| 2023 | Automatically eliminated | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 0/9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 11 | 1 | 16 | 466 | 648 | ||
| width=75 | Season | Division | width=35 | width=35 | width=35 | width=35 | width=45 | width=45 | width=45 | width=45 | width=45 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001-02 | European Nations Cup Third Division Pool 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 45 | 24 | +21 | 8 | 1st | ||||||||||
| 2002-03 | European Nations Cup Third Division Pool B | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 101 | 54 | +47 | 12 | 1st | ||||||||||
| 2003-04 | European Nations Cup Third Division Pool A | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 73 | 75 | -2 | 10 | 2nd | ||||||||||
| 2006-08 | European Nations Cup Second Division 2B | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 125 | 210 | -85 | 12 | 4th | ||||||||||
| 2008-10 | European Nations Cup Second Division 2B | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 132 | 156 | -24 | 16 | 3rd | ||||||||||
| 2010-12 | European Nations Cup Second Division 2A | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 146 | 135 | +11 | 20 | 3rd | ||||||||||
| 2012-14 | European Nations Cup Second Division 2A | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 162 | 179 | -17 | 18 | 3rd | ||||||||||
| 2014-16 | European Nations Cup Second Division 2A | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 153 | 181 | -28 | 16 | 4th | ||||||||||
| 2016-17 | Rugby Europe Conference 1 South | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 147 | 49 | +98 | 17 | 1st | ||||||||||
| 2017-18 | Rugby Europe Conference 1 South | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 221 | 48 | +173 | 20 | 1st | ||||||||||
| 2018-19 | Rugby Europe Conference 1 South | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 117 | 49 | +68 | 16 | 1st | ||||||||||
| 2019-20 | Rugby Europe Conference 1 South | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 58 | 32 | +26 | 6 | 2nd | ||||||||||
| 2021-22 | Rugby Europe Conference 1 South | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 69 | 40 | +29 | 14 | 2nd | ||||||||||
Below is a table of the representative rugby matches played by a Malta national XV at test level up until 4 May 2024:
| width=200 | Opponent | width=70 | Played | width=70 | Won | width=70 | Lost | width=70 | Drawn | width=70 | % Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | % | |||||||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | % | |||||||
| 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0% | |||||||
| 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | % | |||||||
| 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | % | |||||||
| 15 | 5 | 8 | 2 | % | |||||||
| 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | % | |||||||
| 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0% | |||||||
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | % | |||||||
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0% | |||||||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | % | |||||||
| 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | % | |||||||
| 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | % | |||||||
| 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | % | |||||||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | % | |||||||
| 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0% | |||||||
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | % | |||||||
| 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0% | |||||||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0% | |||||||
| 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0% | |||||||
| 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | % | |||||||
| 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | % | |||||||
| 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | % | |||||||
| 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | % | |||||||
| Total | 90 | 48 | 39 | 3 | % |
The following players were included in the squad for the 2021–22 Rugby Europe Conference South 1 match against Israel on 13 November 2021.[1]
| Name | Years | Tests | Won | Lost | Drew | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keith Hopkins | 2023–present | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Damian Neill | 2005–2023 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |
| Len Ethel | 2000–2001 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
| Nigal Ben Bennett | 2001–2002 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | |
| Graham Richards | 2002–2004 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 1 |
https://www.rugbyeurope.eu/competitions/conference-1-south/slovenia-v-malta/https://www.rugbyeurope.eu/competitions/conference-1-south/croatia-v-malta/