Nigel Ratwatte - first Sri Lankan to play for a foreign national team

Nigel Ratwatte, who showed much promise in the game when he captained the Trinity College under-13 rugby team in 2004, and was adjudged Best Place Kicker in his age group that year, has just earned the distinction of being the first Sri Lankan to play for a foreign national team in rugby football.

Nigel (18), has been picked for the national rugby 15 of Mauritius, and plays for that country in the current African Confederation of Rugby (ACR) tournament, now being worked out in Mauritius, where teams from Tanzania, Mauritius, Reunion, and Mayotte are competing.

Mauritius won against Mayotte (33-6) in the tournament game played yesterday (July 1), where Nigel was chosen Man of the Match.

He left Trinity in 2004 moving to Mauritius to be with his parents. Playing for his school there, he was soon picked for the under-15 team of the Black River Rugby Club. It was a steady climb for Nigel from then on, with his selection as fly half for the Mauritius under-18 side at the ACR tournament played in Botswana last year. He next represented Mauritius under-18 (scrum half) in the Indian Ocean Rugby Sevens held in Madagascar, also in 2007.

He was then the youngest and first Sri Lankan to play in an African national side for Sevens Rugby. He is now the youngest player in the Mauritius national team.

His younger brother Jagdesh (Jaggy) who also played in the same TCK under-13 team with Nigel in 2004, played for the Mauritius Black River under-13 team in 2005. In 2006 he toured South Africa playing in a tournament having some of the leading rugby playing schools in SA, and was chosen 'Man of the Series'.

Nigel and Jaggy, who retain their Sri Lankan nationality, are the sons of Bhathiya and Suzanne Ratwatte.