MARCEL RENATA

Position
Prop

Blues debut
2019 v Sunwolves

Born
24/02/94

Height
187cm

Weight
121kg

Province
Auckland

Marcel is a product of King’s College and Auckland University Club.

Interestingly, Marcel made his first class rugby debut in 2015 straight out of club level for the New Zealand Māori. Last minute injuries saw him earn a call up to play the New Zealand Barbarians at Eden Park.

Two months later, Marcel made his provincial debut for Auckland against Otago. He saw limited game time, but did enough to earn a regular spot in the Auckland team for 2016.

2016 saw Marcel represent the Māori All Blacks again on the end of year tour, playing in all three matches.

Marcel played against the British and Irish Lions twice on their 2017 tour of New Zealand, once for the New Zealand Provincial team and another for the Māori All Blacks. He once again featured on the North American tour for the Māori side in 2017.

2018 saw Marcel make his Super Rugby debut for the Hurricanes. He featured twice for the Wellington-based team but has now returned home to set up shop with the Blues.

Renata made his long awaited debut for the Blues against the Sunwolves at QBE Stadium in Round Four of the 2019 Super Rugby season, before ending the campaign with a total of seven caps to his name. Renata bide his time during the 2020 season, finding rare opportunities from the bench, adding a handful of caps to his name. This changed in 2021, following injuries to the Blues front-row contingent. Marcel played all but one of our Super Rugby Trans-Tasman title winning campaign.

Renata is now an established member of the Blues front row as well as a senior figure in the Māori All Blacks set up. Renata has had to bide his time at the club, with a front-row full of All Blacks talent to call on. 2023 saw him earn more regular minutes at prop, playing a total of 10 games for the season, including a meat pie in the team’s Round One opener against the Highlanders. His NPC campaign with Auckland was stunted with a niggling finger injury, Renata taking matters into his own hands and opting to amputate the finger in order to be ready for the 2024 Super Rugby season. Positive energy follows Renata around Blues HQ and he will no doubt be making a bid for more minutes in the 2024 season.