On Saturday the 14th of October 2017, the 33rd ranked Hungarian National Rugby League Team (the Magyar Bulls) played the 19th ranked Maltese National Rugby League Team (the Malta Knights).

The Malta Knights were eventual winners after running out to a 26 - 0 lead by half time. Hungary managed a fight back, but it was too little too late, eventually losing 48 - 16.

Hungary had 8 new players on debut for Hungary. The game was a warm up Test Match for the Thailand Gathering of Nations tournament Hungary will be competing in this November. Hungary will be taking 7 players out of this squad to Thailand to play with 3 Hungarians playing in England and a further 10 players from the Hungarian domestic competition.

The Hungarian Squad assembled in Australia for the Malta Test is made up of Hungarians living in Australia and playing professional or Semi-professional Rugby League in Australia. Former NRL player, debuting for Hungary Stuart Flanagan said after the match "I really enjoyed the game, and was honoured to represent my family back in Hungary. Would have been great to get the win, but I am confident we have a lot of improvement in us and we can beat them next time. I can't wait for the next time I can pull on my national jersey."

Hungarian player Stephen Nemeth commented on the match "It was a great game. Our ultimate goal is to have a real crack at winning the Emerging Nations Rugby League World Championship next October in Sydney, and in the shorter term, winning the Thailand tournament next month. This game we got to work on some combinations, we moved a few positions around through the game, and learnt what different people have to offer in different positions. Malta are ranked 19th in the world, and we are 33rd. This showed us what we need to do to get in the top 20 to try to make the 2021 World Cup."

Hungarian coach Jonathan Wilson said after the match "Malta are a really good team. The result is a good indication of where we are at right now and showed us what we need to improve on. At half time we made a few key positional changes, and we were a lot more competitive after that, and at times in the 2nd half we looked like the better side, so we need to go back and work on doing that for the full 80 minutes. Our longer-term goals are winning the Thailand tournament next month, and the Emerging Nations Rugby League World Championship next October in Sydney"

When asked more about the Thailand 'Gathering of Nations' and the 'Emerging Nations Rugby League World Championship' coach Jonathan Wilson said "The tournament in Thailand will be the 1st time we take so many Domestic Hungarian Rugby League players out of Europe. They will be joined by our professional and semi-professional Rugby League players living and playing in Australia and England. We will be in camp together, training together each day, and play 2 test matches and a 3rd international there. The domestic players will learn a lot to bring back to Hungary. It is an important process in building for the Emerging Nations Rugby League World Championship where we will bring 10 domestic Hungarian players as well as our players from England to join the Hungarians playing professionally or semi-professionally here in Australia."

MALTA
Brodie Vassallo, Nathan Benson, Cameron Mazzelli, Ian Catania, Nathan Falzon, Aiden Glanville, Ryan Flintham, Dean Zammit, Jake Attard, Kyal Greene, Tyler Cassel, Kyle Cassel, Adam Campbell, Aaron Grech, Zac Camilleri, Nathan Simpson, Jake Scott

HUNGARY
Nathan Farkas, Josh Warner, James Arnesen, Brent Varga, Stephen Kovacs, Benjamin Bronzon, Jared Farkas, Joseph Toth, Aaron Farkas, James Kovac, Josh Institoris, Paul McKewin, Stuart Flanagan, Norbert Csapkai, David Balassa, Joel Saaghy, Karoly Acsai, Stephen Nemeth, Paul Graham, Ryan Nemeth