Renton grabs his opportunity
In the leadup to the start of this year’s Mitre 10 Cup season young halfback Jay Renton was hoping to test himself with a game or two off the bench for the Southland Stags.
It all changed dramatically just a matter of a day before Southland’s opening game against Hawke’s Bay in Napier.
Renton got a call at 9am to tell him he needed to get himself to the Invercargill Airport for a 10am flight with the Stags.
He all of a sudden found himself in line to make his provincial debut and it wasn’t going to come via the bench, he was going to start.
The teenager went from providing backup for contracted halfbacks Liam Howley and Jahvis Wallace to starting in Southland’s opening game.
Wallace already had a knee injury before Howley then rolled an ankle two days before the season opener.
‘‘I was kind of shocked to be honest. It was out of the blue, I didn’t expect it at all,’’ Renton said.
‘‘I played a few pre-season games but I didn’t expect to be involved so early.
‘‘I wasn’t thrown in the deep end, I was prepared for it and the older guys helped a lot to prepare for the game and to be confident in myself.’’
Renton was eager to take the opportunity presented to him and he did just that with the halfback one of the Stags’ best in that round one 24-16 loss to Hawke’s Bay.
With the return of Howley, Renton was then shuffled to the bench before then stepping out of the squad altogether when Wallace also returned from injury.
His focus turned to the Southland under-19 team where he transformed from the fresh-faced rookie in the Stags setup to a key leader with the age-group team.
Renton enjoyed the opportunity to take on that role despite initially having doubts.
‘‘It wasn’t that I wasn’t looking forward to it but I just didn’t know how it would go and if we would be on the same page because I hadn’t been to too many trainings.
‘‘But I enjoyed it and we did quite well to get to the final before coming up short.’’
Renton was quickly whisked back into the Stags setup after his time with the under-19 team and it seems he has now leap-frogged Wallace in the pecking order.
In just his first year out of Southland Boys’ High School he has shown signs that he looks comfortable at the provincial level.
His general kicking game has been a key feature to date, although he admits it is actually the aspect of his game which has required the most work.
‘‘The one thing I had to work quite hard on in the off-season is my kicking.
‘‘I seen [my kicking] as a bit of a negative to start with but it has clicked I guess.’’
Renton and his Stags teammates’ next assignment is Tasman in Nelson tomorrow.
On the back of six losses from six games, and the fact it is Southland’s third game in 10 days, the odds are stacked against the Stags.
Tomorrow’s game will kick off at 4.35pm.