Having made his senior provincial breakthrough with the Blue Bulls in 2014, Hugo would establish himself as a frontline member of the Cheetah side that clinched the Currie Cup in 2016. In 2018, he was signed by Toyota Verblitz, where former World Cup-winning Bok coach Jake White steered the club to the top-three in Japan. Hugo joined the Cell C Sharks last year and celebrated his debut in black, or rather white on that occasion, with a superlative hat-trick of tries against the Stormers in Cape Town – at 30 years of age!Currie Cup coach Joey Mongalo has described Reniel Hugo as one of the best lead-ers he has ever come across. The 33-year-old genial giant led the Hollywoodbets Sharks through most of the domestic campaign in 2023, and did a fantastic job of piloting a rather young and hugely inexperienced side. According to Mongalo, Hugo has a way, with his under-stated leadership, of showing the way when the chips are down. Having made his senior provincial breakthrough with the Blue Bulls in 2014, Hugo was as a frontline member of the Cheetah side that clinched the Currie Cup in 2016.