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Rodney Esekia Iona (born 17 August 1991) is a professional rugby union player who plays as a fly-half for Major League Rugby club NOLA Gold in Major League Rugby (MLR). Born in Australia, he represents Samoa at international level after qualifying on eligibility grounds.[1][2][3]
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| Full name | Rodney Esekia Iona | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 17 August 1991 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 89 kg (196 lb; 14 st 0 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Professional career
editOriginally 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]
Iona 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]
Statistics
edit- 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
edit- ^ "Rodney Iona: Jersey Reds sign versatile Samoa international". BBC Sport. 27 November 2019. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
- ^ "Rondey Iona Canberra Vikings Player Profile". Brumbies Rugby. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
- ^ a b "Rodney Iona itsrugby Player Statistics". itsrugby. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
- ^ a b "ACT Brumbies sign Canberra Vikings centre Rodney Iona". Sydney Morning Herald. 17 September 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
- ^ "Iona upgrades to UC Brumbies in 2015". Brumbies Rugby. 17 September 2014. Archived from the original on 17 September 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
- ^ "Recrutement de Rodney Iona" (Press release) (in French). ASBH. 6 July 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
- ^ "La Santboiana fitxa el tres quarts australià Rodney Iona" (Press release) (in Catalan). RugbyCat. 4 December 2017. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
External links
edit- Rodney Iona at ESPNscrum
- Rodney Iona at ItsRugby.co.uk
