Full name | Cortez-Lee Ratima [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Date of birth | [2] | 22 March 2001||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | King Country, Waikato, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 179 cm (5 ft 10 in) [2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 87 kg (192 lb; 13 st 10 lb) [2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
School | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Cortez Ratima (born 22 March 2001) [2] is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays for the Chiefs in Super Rugby. His playing position is halfback. He was named in the Chiefs squad for the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific season. [3] [4] He was also a member of the Waikato 2021 Bunnings NPC squad. [5]
Ratima was born in the King Country area of New Zealand's North Island in 2001. [6] His name, Cortez, comes from the 1972 Nike shoe of the same name because of his father's collection of the shoe. [7] He was raised on a farm in Piopio [8] and attended Piopio Primary School and College [8] in his youth and briefly attended New Plymouth Boys' High School on the North Island's western coastal region of Taranaki before relocating to Hamilton in the adjacent region to the north, Waikato. [8] Ratima finished his education at Hamilton Boys High School (HBHS) and was a regular representative of Waikato through all grades and was a part of the schools' first XV. [8] Ratima also represented the Waikato Chiefs U18s and New Zealand Māori U18s before eventually playing for the Waikato Rugby Academy at 17-years-old. [8] He made his international test debut against England on 13th July 2024. He scored his first international try against Fiji on the 19th July 2024.
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The King Country-born Ratima said Super Rugby was enjoyable with the chances to be part of the squad and have some perks in travelling to Australia to play.