Dillon Hunt (born 23 February 1995) 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 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...
former
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...
player who played for the Highlanders in the
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. His position of choice was
flanker
Flanker may refer to:
* Flanker (perfume), a newly created perfume sharing attributes of an existing one
* Flanker (rugby union), a position in rugby union (not found in rugby league)
* ''Su-27 Flanker'' (video game), a 1996 computer game modelin ...
.
Career
Hunt was called into the Highlanders squad in 2017 as an injury replacement after the team was ravaged by injuries to other loose forwards. Hunt started for the Highlanders against the touring
British and Irish Lions
The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...
side on 13 June 2017, taking part in the 23–22 win and delivering a solid 58 minute performance before being replaced by fellow rookie
James Lentjes.
After representing the
Barbarian F.C.
The Barbarian Football Club, known as the Barbarians is a British-based invitational rugby union club. The Barbarians play in black and white hoops, though players wear socks from their own club strip. Membership is by invitation. As of 2011, p ...
off the bench in a 22–31 loss against the All Blacks, Hunt and fellow Barbarians back-rower
Luke Whitelock were called into the All Blacks squad as injury replacements for 81-test veteran
Jerome Kaino
Jerome Kaino (born 6 April 1983) is a former New Zealand rugby union player.
In 2004, he was named IRB International Under-21 player of the year. In 2011, he was named the New Zealand Rugby player of the year, finishing ahead of Richie McCaw ...
who was injured against the Barbarians side. Hunt made his debut for New Zealand against a French XV on 14 November 2017, replacing
Ardie Savea
Ardie Suemalo Savea (born 14 October 1993) is a rugby union player who plays as a flanker or number 8 for in the ITM Cup, the Hurricanes in Super Rugby and international rugby for the New Zealand All Blacks. Savea was a member of New Zealand's ...
off the bench with ten minutes left of the 28–23 win.
Hunt was re-signed for the Highlanders and with Otago for the 2018 season. Since his re-signing, Hunt became a regular starter for the Highlanders and started in every Highlanders fixture of the
2018 Super Rugby season
The 2018 Super Rugby season was the 23rd season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. After two seasons in which 18 teams participat ...
. His form for both the Highlanders and North Harbour saw him recalled to the wider training squad for the All Blacks end of year tour, where he earned his official test debut off the bench against Japan.
After four seasons at the Highlanders, Hunt signed with the Blues for the 2021 season. However, ongoing concussion problems saw him never take the field for the team.
Hunt confirmed his retirement from all professional rugby in November 2021, citing the same recurrent concussion symptoms that kept him off the field that same year.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt, Dillon
New Zealand rugby union players
1995 births
Living people
New Zealand international rugby union players
Rugby union players from Auckland
People educated at Westlake Boys High School
University of Otago alumni
Rugby union flankers
Otago rugby union players
Highlanders (rugby union) players
North Harbour rugby union players
Blues (Super Rugby) players