European Championship C (Men) : 2026

Sat 10th October 2026   - KO  18:00 - Hibernians RFC, Valletta , Malta
Official: Ollie Maddock (England)

Malta

18

FT

20

Half Time
6 - 10

Greece

Tries

Xavier MAMO (29)
Josh GATT (45,79)

Samuel STRATIS (17)
Eddie MARKOPOLOUS (36,62)
Tyrone TSAGALIOS (50)

Goals

Jarrod SAMMUT (3/3)

Samuel STRATIS (2/4)

Sinbins

William WATTS (77)

Match Preview: Malta and Greece name squads for Saturday's Euro C clash in Marsa

Malta are in pole position to claim the men’s Euro C title and promotion when they face Greece at the Marsa Sports Complex tomorrow (Saturday) kick off 6pm local time. The Knights came from behind to defeat Germany 29-28 last weekend thanks to a Jarrod Sammut drop goal and have made five changes to their squad from that success.

James Donovan, Ethan Xeureb, Mark Friel, Harold Sammut and Sam Khalifeh make way for Jon Micalef, Kyle Gauci, Kane Tippet, Josh Cassar and Kaine Dimech who takes on a player-coach role.

“After an historic win over Germany we know just how important it is to follow up that performance with a big showing on Maltese soil,” explained Dimech. “We expect Greece to want to dictate the pace of the game and test our defence, but we've had a really positive week at training with each session building in intensity and execution.

“There's a passion and desire to keep achieving here on the island and the lads know that promotion is on the cards if we can dig deep and find a win this weekend.”

Greece will be aiming to take the title fight into round three when they host Germany in Crete next weekend. Kyriakos Kakavelakis and Dimitrios Mavraganis are in line to make their debuts and Timur Agostini-Leland and William Giovas have been promoted from their European U19 Shield winning squad who impressed earlier this summer.

“It will be good to see how the local boys mix with the heritage players. We have many young players in the squad and they are the future for Greek Rugby League to keep moving forward on the domestic front,” said head coach Steve Georgallis.

“Malta have already played their opening game and have plenty of experience. Whatever the outcome, our players will take away valuable experience that will benefit the game back at home.”

England’s Ollie Maddock will take charge of the fixture.

The game can be watch live via: www.youtube.com/live/_DQMgTeiyog

Malta (squad): Josh GATT (Albi Tigers), Shaun CHIRCOP (Eastern Rhinos), Kyle GAUCI (Falcolns RFC), Kane TIPPETT (Falcons RFC), Joseph BRIGGS (London Chargers), Kaine DIMECH (Medway Dragons), Christopher KEATING, William WATTS, Willem WILLEMSE, Jean Pierre ZARB (Overseas RFC), Mark ROBERTSON (South Perth Lions), Josh CASSAR (Stanley Rangers), Xavier MAMO, Nicholas MAYLOR, Jon Micallef (Stompers RFC), Robin CUTAJAR, Jarrod SAMMUT (Unattached), Tomas STRICKLAND (Wolves RFC), Zarrin GALEA (Workington Town)

Greece (squad): Stefanos ESKIOGLOU, George KAKOURIS, Dimitrios MAVRAGANIS (AEK), George CHIONIS (Aris), Samuel STRATIS (Blacktown Workers), Nicholas TULIATU (Cessnock), Kyriakos KAKAVELAKIS, Alexandros LINOXYLAKIS, Nikolas STEPHANOU (Crete), Tyrone TSAGALIOS (Mounties), Timur AGOSTINI-LELAND, Thanos LAMPROU (Panianios), Eddie MARKOPOLOUS (Redcliffe), Alexandros ALIU, Aris KOULIZAKIS, Stefanos BASTAS (Rhodes), Leon BAKIS (Ryde Eastwood), Robert TULIATU (Salon), William GIOVAS (St Clair)

9 October 2026
1 Zarrin GALEA
Full Back
Tyrone TSAGALIOS 1
2 Shaun CHIRCOP
Right Wing
Alexandros LINOXYLAKIS 2
3 Kyle GAUCI
Right Centre
Alexandros ALIU 3
4 Tomas STRICKLAND
Left Centre
Samuel STRATIS 4
5 Willem WILLEMSE
Left Wing
George CHIONIS 5
6 Josh GATT
Stand Off
Leon BAKIS 6
7 Jarrod SAMMUT
Scrum Half
Eddie MARKOPOLOUS 7
8 Joseph BRIGGS
Prop
Nicholas TULIATU 8
9 Xavier MAMO
Hooker
William GIOVAS 9
10 Jean Pierre ZARB
Prop
Stefanos BASTAS 10
11 Jon Micallef
Second Row
Stefanos ESKIOGLOU 11
12 Nicholas MAYLOR
Second Row
Robert TULIATU 12
13 Mark ROBERTSON
Loose Forward
Aris KOULIZAKIS 13
19 Robin CUTAJAR
Int 1
Nikolas STEPHANOU 14
15 William WATTS
Int 2
Timur AGOSTINI-LELAND 15
16 Josh CASSAR
Int 3
George KAKOURIS 16
17 Kaine DIMECH
Int 4
Thanos LAMPROU 18
18 Christopher KEATING
Reserve 1
Match Report: Greece hang on to beat Malta 18-20 and take Euro C title to final round!

The winners of Euro C will be settled in the final round next week when Greece face Germany in Crete. Victory by any margin for Greece will see them promoted after they won 20-18 at Hibernians RFC against Malta in round two, scrum half Eddie Markopolous with two of their four tries, while Germany must triumph by a two point margin if they are to be champions.  

The game was moved at short notice to Hibernians RFC in Kordin after the Marsa Sports Complex was unable to host the fixture due to overnight storm damage.

“I’m very pleased with how we defended our line today,” said Greece head coach, Steve Georgallis, his side taking the lead in the 17th minute when Sam Straits outjumped Shaun Chircop to touch down out wide, although he was unable to add the conversion.

Georgallis added: “We’ll build going into the Germany game, and I’m sure we’ll be better next week after this. Malta did well to come back and it’s great for international rugby league to have such close games.”

Xavier Mamo sliced through the visiting defence on the half hour giving Jarrod Sammut an easy shot on goal to put Malta in front, and they looked to be going further ahead when Zarrin Galea made a 40 metre break downfield, but his kick at the end of it only found touch.

Markopolous intercepted as Malta laid siege to the Greek line, going the length of the field to score at the other end with Stratis adding the extras to give Greece a narrow four-point advantage at the break.

Five minutes into the second half, on the back of a Galea 40/20, Josh Gatt found his way to the try line, with Sammut on target to edge Malta ahead again, but Greece hit straight back through Tyrone Tsagalios who jinked through, with Stratis adding the conversion. Ten minutes later Markopolous added his brace to give his side a vital two-score lead.

With three minutes remaining, Malta’s William Watts was sinbinned for a professional foul, but the host’s never say die attitude saw Gatt add his second, Sammut again converting, but time ran out for the Knights.

“It’s a tough one to take,” noted Malta head coach Kaine Dimech. “I asked the boys not to drop their standards and take pride in last week and just some lapses in concentration cost us. We have young players who are coming into the squad who put in some fantastic effort and there was a lot of pride in the jersey and that’s important.

“Jon Micallef added a new dynamic to the team with his offloads and Joseph Briggs and Mark Robertson were great in the middle, while Zarrin Galea and Josh Gatt at times ran Greece off the park.”

Photo: Neil Fitzpatrick

10 October 2026