2024 will go down as a historic year for UM Wolves RFC – possibly its most historic to date – for more reasons than one.
The foundations laid down by the club in previous seasons truly began to bear fruit on the pitch, setting new milestones in the annals of Maltese rugby history.
On this, the last day of the year, we take the opportunity to look back and remember our most memorable moments of 2024.
A first taste of silverware
The most significant moment was no doubt the first taste of silverware that our club achieved through its women’s team.
It was a team built almost from scratch with little expectations other than the encouragement to everyone to give their all – the women’s team emerging from a couple of challenging seasons – but a mixture of experience and new blood propelled the team to a strong start to the season.
But coming into 2024, our women were leading the league standings after a couple of well-fought wins.
A tough January followed with only one win from three matches, but the girls were right back on track going into February with a 27-10 win against league rivals Stompers and a 29-0 win over Kavallieri and then a 37-7 win against Stompers and a 38-10 win over Kavallieri.
This set the stage for the month of March: only one win over Stompers was needed from two matches in order for the league title to be secured – and that came on 16 March in the form of a 10-5 win which was nervy, but enough.
A 39-7 win on the final matchday of the season was the cherry on top, as the women were crowned as national champions – the first time that UM Wolves RFC has ever won a competitive trophy.
The taste of victory
There were some tough days – and some tough results – for our men’s team coming into 2024. Having entered the league in the 2021/22 season, which kicked off in January 2022, they were still in search of an elusive first ever win in competitive action.
There were some positive moments at the end of 2023: a 26-22 loss to Stompers was so close yet so far – but provided the club’s first ever points in league action – and a 29-21 loss to Overseas felt like a missed opportunity.
It felt like a matter of time given the team’s progress, and in fact it wasn’t long before 2024 rewarded their hard work.
The historical moment came on 20 January 2024 – the first game of the year – against Stompers, ironically the same team that the club had debuted against just about two years prior. It was a to and fro game, but a try in the last five minutes from Sami Oudjedaoui was enough to secure a 26-19 win, sparking utter and well-deserved delirium.
Much like the saying concerning London buses, when one win came, it didn’t take long for more to follow.
The men defeated reigning champions Falcons in a 20-19 nailbiter just two weeks later, held Overseas to a 19-19 draw and offered up a clinical 41-20 win against Kavallieri in an Easter Saturday special.
An unbeaten new season
The men’s late flurry of good performances were unfortunately not enough to prevent them from propping up the league standings in 2023/24, but with a strong core in the team and even more determination than ever before, 2024/25 promised to be an exciting season.
Come 12 October, the trepidation and excitement for the new season was rife – and while the club knew it had a good team within its ranks, nobody quite expected what was to come to pass.
An exceptional 87-5 win against Overseas kicked the season off in style, securing a first ever berth in the MRFU Cup Semi-Final for the men – and this was followed up with a 50-5 win over the same opponents to the start the league in similar style.
The positive results kept coming: four-time champions Falcons were downed in a hotly contested match which ended 34-26 to Wolves, and Kavallieri were also beaten 35-0 in a top of the table clash.
The year ended on more highs: Overseas were again beaten, this time with a score of 74-3, and what promised to be a blockbuster against Falcons ended in a comfortable 26-0 win for Wolves.
The men now go into 2025 unbeaten and having not conceded a try for three straight matches – but in full knowledge that there is still plenty of rugby to be played.
Giving youth a chance
2024 was also a year where the club’s philosophy of pushing young, homegrown players truly shone through.
No less than 30 homegrown players made their rugby debuts during the 2024 calendar year across both the men and women’s team, many of whom are young players with plenty of seasons in rugby ahead of them.
Notable among them were four players who made their competitive debuts having been recruited through the club’s efforts at G.F. Abela Junior College.
Jessica Pace joined the club aged 16 and made her debut in January a few weeks after her 18th birthday, marking it with a try.
Amy Munro also joined the club from Junior College and made her senior debut a couple of weeks before her 18th birthday. She played an important role together with her teammates in the club’s title-winning season and her efforts were rewarded in summer when she was called up to the Malta national team for a tournament in Serbia.
More recently meanwhile, there were another two youth product debuts with the men’s team, as Crispin Gauci Peresso and Ryder Croft came on in senior league matches for the first team.
Both of them made their senior debuts on 7 December against Overseas, with Ryder the youngest Wolves player ever as he came off the bench at the age of 17 years, five months and 14 days.
This is a philosophy which the club will continue in the years to come.
