Rodney Iona

Rodney Iona (born 17 August 1991) is an Australian rugby union footballer who recently played as a centre for the Jersey Reds in the English RFU Championship.[1] He also represented the Canberra Vikings in the inaugural National Rugby Championship.[2][3]

Rodney Iona

Full name	Rodney Iona
Date of birth	(1991-08-17) 17 August 1991
Place of birth	Melbourne, Australia
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	89 kg (14 st 0 lb; 196 lb)
Rugby union career
Position(s) Fly-Half / Centre Current team UE Santboiana Amateur team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) 2011−2016 Tuggeranong Vikings () 2017−present UE Santboiana () Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) 2014−2016 Brumbies 3 (0) 2014–2016 Canberra Vikings 15 (44) 2016–2017 Béziers 22 (0) 2019–2020 Jersey Reds () Correct as of 3 November 2015 National team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) 2018 Samoa 3 (0) Correct as of 25 October 2018

Career

Originally from Melbourne, Iona made his way north to Australia's capital Canberra in an attempt to forge out a rugby career for himself. In 2011 he linked up with the Tuggeranong Vikings who play in the ACTRU Premier Division while attending the Brumbies academy. He represented the Brumbies at sevens and won the World Club Sevens Championship in 2013 and also played in the World Club 10s tournament in Singapore.[4]

A spate of injuries for the Brumbies in the middle of the 2014 Super Rugby season saw Iona earn his first cap in a derby match against the Waratahs in Sydney. His debut didn't go quite as well as he'd have liked with his first pass being intercepted which resulted in a Waratahs try.[4] Despite this Iona was offered a full-time one-year contract with the Brumbies ahead of the 2015 Super Rugby season.[5]

Iona also played for the Canberra Vikings in the first ever National Rugby Championship in 2014 making 6 appearances.[3]

He joined French Rugby Pro D2 side AS Béziers Hérault in July 2016.[6] He made 18 appearances in his first season, but suffered a serious neck injury after just four matches in 2017 that threatened his career. He was released by Béziers and joined Spanish División de Honor de Rugby side UE Santboiana.[7]

Super Rugby Statistics

As of 28 June 2015

Season	Team	Games	Starts	Sub	Mins	Tries	Cons	Pens	Drops	Points	Yel	Red
2014	Brumbies	1	0	1	62	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2015	Brumbies	2	0	2	51	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total		3	0	3	113	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

References

1. "Rodney Iona: Jersey Reds sign versatile Samoa international". BBC Sport. 27 November 2019. Retrieved 12 December 2019. | df=dmy-all }}
2. "Rondey Iona Canberra Vikings Player Profile". Brumbies Rugby. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
3. "Rodney Iona itsrugby Player Statistics". itsrugby. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
4. "ACT Brumbies sign Canberra Vikings centre Rodney Iona". Sydney Morning Herald. 17 September 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
5. "Iona upgrades to UC Brumbies in 2015". Brumbies Rugby. 17 September 2014. Archived from the original on 17 September 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
6. "Recrutement de Rodney Iona" (Press release) (in French). ASBH. 6 July 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
7. "La Santboiana fitxa el tres quarts australià Rodney Iona" (Press release) (in Catalan). RugbyCat. 4 December 2017. Retrieved 6 December 2017.