Wind and rain bucketed down over a usually sunny Malta however it didn’t stop the Knights taking out the inaugural Wheelchair Rugby League Challenge against Kavallieri Mens at St Martin’s College this afternoon.

Four teams representing Inspire, the Kavallieri Rugby Football Club and the Malta Rugby League came together under grey skies for the latest version of rugby league on the Maltese Islands.

Kicking off the event, the Inspire foundation opened against Kavallieri Ladies and in a low scoring affair, grabbed their lone victory by 1 try to nil thanks to a Noel Aquilina effort.

The Ladies came across their male counterparts and Kavallieri Mens proved too strong with a 4-1 result in their favour before taking on the Knights who scored a 5-1 win thanks largely to a brace of tries by Daniel Grima and Neil Bradley. Clayton Cassar crossed for Kavallieri Mens.

The Knights repeated the result against Inspire before Kavallieri Rugby Football Club’s mens and ladies teams contested the final group fixture. The former prevailing to the tune of 4 tries to 1.

The Knights, boasting national team players from the 13-a-side code of rugby league, flew through to the final undefeated.

Mark Sultana scored the winner in the 3rd place playoff against Kavallieri Ladies before the Knights and Kavallieri Mens met in the final.

Graham Attard took Kavallieri to a rampaging 2-nil lead before the Knights hit back to level the scores and send the game into golden point extra time thanks to Daniel Grima and Anthony Micallef.

Under golden point regulations, Kristin Baldacchino sent Daniel Grima to score in the right corner of play to give the Knights an inaugural wheelchair rugby league challenge victory.

Red Bull donated beverages and Maxim Sports Nutrition provided energy bars to all entrants, Try Tag Rugby (www.trytagrugby.com) of London supplying the Tags. Photography was courtesy of Matthew Scerri (www.matthewscerri.com).

The MRL and Inspire are already accepting teams for the next Wheelchair Rugby League Challenge.

Wheelchair Rugby League Challenge Results
Inspire 1 defeated Kavallieri Ladies 0
Knights 5 defeated Kavallieri Mens 1
Knights 5 defeated Inspire 1
Kavallieri Mens 4 defeated Kavallieri Ladies 1

Classification Standings    

Inspire 1 (M.Sultana) defeated Kavallieri Ladies 0

Grand Final
Knights 3 (2) (D.Grima 2, A.Micallef) defeated Kavallieri Mens 2 (2) (G.Attard 2)

Pictures courtesy of Matthew Scerri (www.matthewscerri.com)

Images from top to bottom:

1/ The Knights, inaugural winners of the Wheelchair Rugby League Challenge.

2/ Kavallieri Mens' Adrian Bartolo passes the ball left with Graham Attard to his right.

3/ The Knights' Kristin Baldacchino charges through as Kavallieri Ladies' Amanda Cassar comes across in cover.

4/ Kavallieri Ladies' team.

5/ Tags provided by Try Tag Rugby, of London.

6/ The finalists, Kavallieri Mens and The Knights. (Photo by Elaine Fenech)

Runners-Up, Kavallieri Mens (left) and winners The Knights (right)

Clayton Cassar goes for a tumble.


The Inspire team strong on the attack.

 
Kavallieri Ladies' Dorianne Borg gets tackled before a possible break.