European Championship B (Men)

Sat 18th October 2025   - KO  13:30 -
Official: Mickael Lannes (France)

Malta

6

FT

36

Half Time
6 - 20

Netherlands

Tries

Kaine Dimech (23)

Mavi Gevers (16)
Joran Schoenmaker (20,40)
Hidde Van Der Berg (32)
Damon Koolstra (47)
Kwinten Roeleveld (65)
Hamish Wragg (79)

Goals

Kyle Gauci (1/1)

Damon Koolstra (4/7)

Match Preview: Malta and Netherlands name squads for Euro B opener

European Championships Euro B gets underway this weekend when Malta host Netherlands on Saturday 18 October, at Marsa Rugby Ground (kick off 1.30pm local time).

The clash marks the first competitive tournament for both nations since 2021’s Euro D competition in Turkey, which Netherlands went on to win and Malta finished fourth.

The hosts, who include Workington’s League 1 joint player of the year Zarrin Galea, will potentially hand debuts to Xavier Mamo, Terence Galdes, Kyle Micallef, Kane Tippett and Marcus Christians as the Knights play their first fixture since defeating Italy away 42-0 last year.

Malta head coach, Philip Humphrey, commented: “This year’s selection has been my toughest yet. All the boys have taken real strides forward and shown great improvements. Now the hard work begins to ensure we put a in a performance to be proud of.”

“The excitement and honour of representing Malta on home soil is second to none,” said skipper Karl Cassar, who plays for the RAF. “An incredible amount of work which has gone on behind the scenes to make this fixture work. We realise the Dutch will be a very well drilled side as we’ve closely monitored their recent fixtures, but we have possibly the strongest national team to play on the island in several years.”For Netherlands, Kees Kuijpers, Arie-Tjerk Razoux Schultz and Sylvan Vonken who all featured in last week’s warm-up game loss to Ukraine make way for Zwolle’s Laury Renac, Rik Baats and Lars Mudde of Amsterdam Cobras in their squad.

Head coach Dave Hunter said: “We’re looking to bounce back from a disappointing display against Ukraine. Malta will have some talented players in their side, but we are showing signs of improvement, and we’ll be looking to put together a complete performance.”

Frenchman Mickael Lannes will take charge of the fixture which will be broadcast on Malta’s national television channel tvmsport+

Malta Squad
Harrison Jewitt (Castleford Tigers), Brendan Dalton, Aidan Demicoli, Terence Galdes, Kyle Gauci, Kyle Micallef, Jean-Pierre Spiteri Zarb, Kane Tippett (Falcons), Josh Cassar (Hunslet ARLFC), Kaine Dimech (Medway Dragons), Karl Cassar (Royal Air Force RL), Shaun Chircop, Marcus Christians, Xavier Mamo, Nicholas Maylor, Jean Scholey (Stompers), Mark Robertson (Tugun Seahawks), Justin Davenport (Tampa Mayhem), Zarrin Galea (Workington Town)

Netherlands Squad
Francis Appleton, Hidde van den Berg, Lars Mudde (Amsterdam Cobras), Rik Baats, Mavi Gevers, Hamish Wragg (Brabant Bears), Tom van Bokhoven (Cromer Kingfishers), Kwinton Roeleveld, Maas van der Reek (Den Haag Knights), Lachlan van der Vliet (Mareeba Gladiators), Joran Schoenmaker (Palau Broncos), Tom Turnock (Rotterdam Pitbulls), Damon Koolstra (West Tigers Mackay), Kevin Ebbing, Dimitri Haringa, Paul Kuijpers, Sam Klumpert, Laury Renac (Zwolle Wolves), James Adams (Unattached).

17 October 2025
1 Galea
Full Back
Van Der Vliet 1
2 Scholey
Right Wing
Wragg 2
3 Dalton
Right Centre
Schoenmaker 3
15 Jewitt
Left Centre
Van Der Berg 4
5 Tippett
Left Wing
Harringa 5
6 Mamo
Stand Off
Renac 6
7 Gauci
Scrum Half
Koolstra 20
8 Cassar
Prop
Roeleveld 8
9 Cassar
Hooker
Reek 9
10 Zarb
Prop
Ebing 10
11 Roberston
Second Row
Gevers 11
12 Davenport
Second Row
Kuijpers 12
13 Dimech
Loose Forward
Bokhoven 13
14 Chircop
Int 1
Boats 14
19 Galdes
Int 2
Kulmpert 15
16 Maylor
Int 3
Appleton 18
17 Christians
Int 4
Turnock 24
18 Micallef
Reserve 1
Mudde 16
Match Report: Netherlands lead Euro B after 6-36 win away to Malta

Netherlands claimed an impressive win to open Euro B, defeating Malta 36-6 at Marsa Rugby Ground. It was a close contest for the opening half hour, but after Hidde Van Der Berg crossed for the Oranje’s third try and fellow centre Joran Schoenmaker went over right on half time, the visitors dominated.

Netherlands head coach, Dave Hunter, commented: “It was a good game, the first half was very even. Our domestic players made a difference to the game, especially our bench who provided a lot of impact. We had a massive improvement from last week’s warm up against Ukraine, the players responded well to that and our edges defended much better. We’ll be planning to take that into the Serbia game next weekend.”

In scorching early afternoon heat, Mavi Gevers’ strong run gave Netherlands the lead, Schoenmaker’s first of his try double coming after Malta had kicked out on the full from the re-start. Kaine Dimech got the home side off the mark with try between the posts, Kyle Gauci goaling but that was as close as they got, the visitors leading 20-6 at the break.

Malta lost Xavier Mamo to concussion early in the second half and busy Netherlands scrum half Damon Koolstra – who finished with 12 points - went over on the hour. Kwinten Roeleveld and winger Hamish Wragg completed the scoring as the visitors posted seven tries in a comprehensive performance.

“It’s a disappointing result. We went away from our game plan and aimed to play expansive rugby without earning the right to do so,” said Malta skipper Karl Cassar. “We made it difficult for ourselves and will have to be better when we travel to Serbia in a fortnight’s time.”

Picture:  Crispin Gauci Peresso.

18 October 2025