Gozo Rugby Club trio Gary Hili, Shan Francois Hussain and player-coach Clifford Debattista head to Denmark today ahead of tomorrow’s rugby league international between Malta and Denmark at Copenhagen’s Gentofte Stadium.

20-year-old Hili said he is extremely excited at the prospect of Malta winning the 2012 Dove Men+Care International Series with the Maltese team claiming the title with any win or even a loss of up to 11 points.

“It’s exciting to be going abroad with a great bunch a guys and representing my country at the same time. We’re all looking forward to playing in Denmark and winning the series,” said Hili.

Hili commented that he expects the Danish side to be a stronger team than they were last June when Malta won 24-12 at Hamrun.

“The Danes have the home advantage now so I expect their selection to be better than the one they had on their away leg (Hamrun). But we also have a good selection and we are prepared to take them on, playing for the win.”

The Malta side is boosted by the inclusion of Jarrod Sammut, a professional player of Maltese extraction from Australia. Sammut, 25, is signed to Bradford Bulls who play in Super League, the second highest rugby league competition in the world. Sammut played three seasons of top flight rugby league in Australia’s NRL with the Penrith Panthers.

A role model for other Gozitans interested to take up rugby, Hili said this season had seen more interest in the calypso isle after Gozo RC’s MRL Dove Men+Care Championship campaign.

“Rugby in Gozo has been getting better. In the new season alot more Gozitans were interested and we’ve managed to get the numbers down to training. The skill level of most of the players has reached new heights and I think that with a bit more work we’ll easily see another gozitan in the squad sooner rather than later,” said Hili.

Of the three Gozitans, Hussain is under an injury cloud following a mishap at training last week with Hili but will travel as part of the 19-man squad to Denmark.

“Gary (Hili) came down on Shan and Shan’s shoulder popped out. There was nothing in it, just an unlucky moment,” said Malta coach Anthony Micallef.

Locally in rugby, last weekend saw Gozo RC host Gladiators RFC for a joint development session at Sannat followed by a match of tag rugby. Last summer, Gozo hosted Birkirkara Alligators RFC Ladies, with the Gozo island proving an extremely worthwhile location for Maltese rugby teams to spend a weekend training camp away from Malta itself.

Twitter.com/MALTARL will produce live score updates on Saturday with kick-off at 2pm (Copenhagen time).

Photograph by www,anthonygrech.com of Gary Hili, the third Gozo RC player from left.

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