Italy opened the scoring and raced into a 14-0 lead at the break as first Jack Piccirilli dived in on the right hand side, before Anton Iaria barged his way through the centre of the field, the latter converted by Daniel Atkinson.

Damian Nati completed a right to left move for his first try in the left corner, which left the Knights scoreless at the break.

In the second half Atkinson showed superb skill to break through the middle of the field to score shortly before Nati's second try which was a carbon copy of his first effort. 

Piccirilli's second try proved to be the try of the game, a flicked pass from his centre, and collecting his own kick centimetres before it went dead and met with rapturous applause from the crowd. 

Malta's first points came on the hour mark as Connor McDermott fielded a towering kick 15m from his own line and then scythed through the defence to score, going almost full length. 

Piccirilli added his hat-trick as he backed up Atkinson's break in the middle of the park, but the final word went to Malta as Kyle Cassell found his way under the posts for a consolation try, Jarrod Sammut adding his second conversion.