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. 

After a short stint at the Hurricanes, 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 was becoming an established member of the Blues front row as well as a senior figure in the Māori All Blacks set up. In 2023 he saw 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.  

A niggling finger injury hampered Marcel’s involvement in Auckland’s 2023 NPC campaign, with the prop making the hard decision to amputate his finger in order to play pain free in the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific campaign. The surgery paid off, with Renata returning to career-best form in the Blues championship winning season. The versatile prop chalked up his 50th game for the club, only missing two matches the entire season. He was rewarded with selection in the Māori All Blacks squad who travelled to Japan after the Super season. 

Renata returns to the Blues in 2025 for his seventh season, making the transition from rookie to experienced head, who will now be a sounding board for the new stable of props honing their craft at the Blues.  

Marcel is contracted with the Blues through until the end of the 2027 season.