Dillon Hunt (born 23 February 1995) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

former

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player who played for the Highlanders in the

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

competition. His position of choice was flanker.

Career

Hunt was called into the Highlanders squad in 2017 as an injury replacement after the team was ravaged by injuries to other loose forwards. Hunt started for the Highlanders against the touring

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

side on 13 June 2017, taking part in the 23–22 win and delivering a solid 58 minute performance before being replaced by fellow rookie

James Lentjes James Anthony Richard Lentjes (born 16 January 1991) is a New Zealand rugby union player who currently for the Bunnings NPC. His position is Flanker. Early career Born and raised in the city of Christchurch in the South Island of New Zealand, ...

. After representing the

Barbarian F.C. The Barbarian Football Club, known as the Barbarians is a British-based invitational rugby union club. The Barbarians play in black and white hoops, though players wear socks from their own club strip. Membership is by invitation. As of 2011, p ...

off the bench in a 22–31 loss against the All Blacks, Hunt and fellow Barbarians back-rower Luke Whitelock were called into the All Blacks squad as injury replacements for 81-test veteran

Jerome Kaino Jerome Kaino (born 6 April 1983) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. In 2004, he was named IRB International Under-21 player of the year. In 2011, he was named the New Zealand Rugby player of the year, finishing ahead of Richie McCaw ...

who was injured against the Barbarians side. Hunt made his debut for New Zealand against a French XV on 14 November 2017, replacing

Ardie Savea Ardie Suemalo Savea (born 14 October 1993) is a rugby union player who plays as a flanker or number 8 for in the ITM Cup, the Hurricanes in Super Rugby and international rugby for the New Zealand All Blacks. Savea was a member of New Zealan ...

off the bench with ten minutes left of the 28–23 win. Hunt was re-signed for the Highlanders and with Otago for the 2018 season. Since his re-signing, Hunt became a regular starter for the Highlanders and started in every Highlanders fixture of the

2018 Super Rugby season The 2018 Super Rugby season was the 23rd season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. After two seasons in which 18 teams participate ...

. His form for both the Highlanders and North Harbour saw him recalled to the wider training squad for the All Blacks end of year tour, where he earned his official test debut off the bench against Japan. After four seasons at the Highlanders, Hunt signed with the Blues for the 2021 season. However, ongoing concussion problems saw him never take the field for the team. Hunt confirmed his retirement from all professional rugby in November 2021, citing the same recurrent concussion symptoms that kept him off the field that same year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt, Dillon New Zealand rugby union players 1995 births Living people New Zealand international rugby union players Rugby union players from Auckland People educated at Westlake Boys High School University of Otago alumni Rugby union flankers Otago rugby union players Highlanders (rugby union) players North Harbour rugby union players Blues (Super Rugby) players