Josh Renton (born 25 May 1994) 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 ...

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 currently plays as a halfback for

Valorugby Emilia The Valorugby Emilia, previously known as Rugby Reggio, is an Italian rugby union team based in Reggio nell'Emilia, in the Emilia-Romagna region. They currently play in the Top12, after gaining promotion from winning Serie A in the 2015–16 seaso ...

in Italian Top10.

Early career

Born and raised in the southern New Zealand town of Dunedin, Renton attended the prestigious

Otago Boys' High School , motto_translation = "The ‘right’ learning builds a heart of oak" , type = State secondary, day and boarding , established = ; years ago , streetaddress= 2 Arthur Street , region = Dunedin , state = Otago , zipcod ...

in his hometown where he played first XV rugby, captaining the side in his senior year.

Senior career

Renton started out his senior career with his local ITM Cup side Otago, debuting during the 2013 season against local rivals while largely serving as back up to experienced Japanese halfback

Fumiaki Tanaka Fumiaki Tanaka (田中史朗, born 3 January 1985 in Kyoto, Japan) is a Japanese rugby union footballer. He plays as a scrum-half for Japan on international level and for the Panasonic Wild Knights and the at domestic level. Career Tanaka w ...

throughout his first year of provincial rugby. Tanaka's return to Japan to play

Top League Japan Rugby League One (formerly the Top League) is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by absorbing the ...

rugby with the

Panasonic Wild Knights Saitama Wild Knights (formerly Panasonic Wild Knights) is a Japanese rugby union team formerly based in Ōta city, Gunma prefecture which plays in the Top League. Inspired by Tony Brown at fly half (though he was not captain), it dominated the l ...

in 2014 saw Renton become first choice number 9 for the Razorbacks. He played all 10 games during a disappointing campaign for the men from Dunedin which ended with them in 6th place on the championship log.

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

was a much better year for Otago who finished up in 3rd place in the championship before going down comprehensively to in the semi-finals with Renton once more being the province's first choice halfback, playing 9 out of 11 matches.

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

saw the Razorbacks top the Championship log only for them to lose to in the tournament final which consigned them to another season of championship rugby in 2017. Renton missed the entire campaign as a result of a knee injury picked up playing club rugby earlier in the year. He played for in New Zealand's domestic

Mitre 10 Cup The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in t ...

and the in the international

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 from until 2018. In 2021 he come back in

to play for

Southland Stags Rugby Southland (formerly the Southland Rugby Football Union) is the provincial rugby union who govern the Southland region of New Zealand. Their headquarters are at Rugby Park Stadium in Invercargill, which is also the home ground of the unio ...

in New Zealand NPC.

Super Rugby

Strong showings for Otago in domestic rugby through 2013 and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

were rewarded when Dunedin-based Super Rugby franchise, the named him in their wider training group for the

2015 Super Rugby season The 2015 Super Rugby season was the 20th season of Super Rugby and the fifth season featuring an expanded 15-team format. For sponsorship reasons, this competition was known as Asteron Life Super Rugby in Australia, Investec Super Rugby in New ...

. Serving as back up to

All Black The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

Aaron Smith and Japanese international Fumiaki Tanaka, Renton was limited to just a solitary substitute appearance in his first season with the Highlanders. He was however promoted to the franchise's senior squad for

at the expense of Tanaka, but, injury ended his campaign early after just 3 appearances from the replacements bench. Despite his injury problems, new Highlanders head coach, Tony Brown retained him in the squad for

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Pro 14

Renton played for Italian

Pro14 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

team

Zebre Zebre Parma (, meaning "Zebras") are an Italian professional rugby union team competing in the United Rugby Championship and EPCR competitions from the 2012–13 season. They are based in Parma (Emilia-Romagna), Italy. They are operated by the ...

from 2018 to 2021.

International career

Renton represented New Zealand Schools in 2012 and was a member of the New Zealand Under-20 side which finished 3rd in the

2014 IRB Junior World Championship The 2014 IRB Junior World Championship was the seventh annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in Auckland, New Zealand by rugby's governing body, World Rugby, then known as the Internation ...

in his home country, scoring 2 tries in 5 matches.

Career Honours

Highlanders *

Super Rugby statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Renton, Josh 1994 births Living people New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union scrum-halves Otago rugby union players Highlanders (rugby union) players Rugby union players from Dunedin People educated at Otago Boys' High School Zebre Parma players Southland rugby union players