The Mauritius national rugby union team represents Mauritius

Mauritius

Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...

 in international rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

. The team is composed almost entirely of white Mauritians, specifically members of the Franco-Mauritian

Franco-Mauritian

Franco-Mauritians are people of mainly French origin who reside in Mauritius. They number more than 24,000.-Origins:The first French settlers arrived in Mauritius in 1722, after the previous attempts of settlement by the Dutch had failed, and the island had once again become abandoned...

 ethnic minority group, as rugby is a much less popular sport amongst the Indo-Mauritian

Indo-Mauritian

Indo-Mauritians are people of Indian descent living on the island of Mauritius, where they represent a majority comprising 68% of the population according to the July 2007 statistics...

 majority and also because of the racist tendency of the Franco-Mauritians towards other communities. Mauritius is a member of the International Rugby Board

International Rugby Board

The International Rugby Board is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. It was founded in 1886 as the International Rugby Football Board by the unions of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. England refused to join until 1890. The International Rugby Football Board changed its name to the...

 (IRB), but the national team is ranked as third tier, and Mauritius have yet to compete in either the Africa Cup

Africa Cup

The Africa Cup is an annual rugby union tournament involving African nations, organised by the Confederation of African Rugby . The tournament was first held in 2000, and has since been contested on an annual basis...

 or Rugby World Cup

Rugby World Cup

The Rugby World Cup is an international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board and held every four years since 1987....

.

External links

• Mauritius on IRB.com
• Mauritius on rugbydata.com
• Mauritius Rugby