Josh Renton

Josh Renton (born 25 May 1994) is a New Zealand rugby union player who currently plays as a halfback for Otago in New Zealand's domestic Mitre 10 Cup and the Highlanders in the international Super Rugby competition.

Born and raised in the southern New Zealand town of Dunedin, Renton attended the prestigious Otago Boys' High School in his hometown where he played first XV rugby, captaining the side in his senior year.

He started out his senior career with his local ITM Cup side Otago, debuting during the 2013 season against local rivals Southland while largely serving as back up to experienced Japanese halfback Fumiaki Tanaka throughout his first year of provincial rugby. Tanaka's return to Japan to play Top League rugby with the Panasonic Wild Knights 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 was a much better year for Otago who finished up in 3rd place in the championship before going down comprehensively to Wellington in the semi-finals with Renton once more being the province's first choice halfback, playing 9 out of 11 matches. 2016 saw the Razorbacks top the Championship log only for them to lose to North Harbour 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.

Strong showings for Otago in domestic rugby through 2013 and 2014 were rewarded when Dunedin-based Super Rugby franchise, the Highlanders named him in their wider training group for the 2015 Super Rugby season. Serving as back up to All Black 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 2016 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.

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

Highlanders

• Super Rugby - 2015

As of 4 January 2017