Malta have equalled their best-ever position of 39th in the World Rugby Rankings after picking up six-tenths of a rating point from Saturday’s 56-8 win over Croatia in Rugby Europe’s Conference 1 South.

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Winger Christopher Dudman and scrum-half Thomas Holloway scored two tries apiece in front of a 3,000 crowd at the Hibernians Ground in Paola, with the rest of their tries coming from centre Rob Holloway, flanker Luke Watts, winger James Kirk, tight-head prop Anthony Harvey and full-back James O’Brien.

The victory lifts Malta up three places in the rankings above Paraguay, Tunisia and Colombia, and puts them on top of the embryonic Conference 1 South table, following a similarly impressive 52-20 win away to Bosnia and Herzegovina in their opening match. Croatia fall three places to 57th as a result of the defeat.

LITHUANIA GO TWO FROM TWO

In Conference 1 North, Lithuania also made it two wins from two with a 22-12 victory over Ukraine that sees them climb one place in the rankings to 36th, overtaking Moldova in the process.

Lithuania were effectively out of sight at half-time having built up a 19-0 lead thanks to a try from centre Kestutis Marcisauskas and 14 points from the boot of fly-half Donatas Vilimavicius.

A fifth Vilimavicius penalty provided Lithuania with their only points of the second half as Ukraine responded with tries from Maksym Kovalevskyi and Oleksandr Berezanskyi. Ukraine are still ranked 38th.

SLOVENIA TOP TABLE

The only other game in the Rugby Europe International Championship resulted in a 29-15 win for Slovenia against Slovakia – sides at either end of the Conference 2 South standings.

Slovenia scored tries through wingers Guillaume Delmas and Jus Penko and replacement Ziga Burnik before successfully defending their two-score lead despite the loss of Tim Nigerl to the sin bin with six minutes to go.

The victory did not count towards the rankings as Slovakia are not a full member union of World Rugby. For the same reason, neither did Thailand’s 49-3 win away to Laos.

WALLABIES HIT HALF-CENTURY

Australia remain unchanged too, in third place, following their 63-30 win against Japan in front of 42,000 spectators at the Yokohama Stadium, the venue for seven matches at RWC 2019.

The result ran true to form as the Wallabies, ranked eight places and more than 13 points higher than the Brave Blossoms, scored nine tries to take their tally for the year to 51 from just 11 matches.

Centre Tevita Kuridrani scored a hat-trick, with midfield partner Samu Kerevi crossing twice and winger Henry Speight, hooker Tatafu Polata-Nau, scrum-half Nick Phipps and second-row Rob Simmons also going over.

Three second-half tries from the hosts, scored by Wimple van der Wait, Amanaki Mafu and Kazuki Himeno, made for a less lop-sided final scoreline.