Rodney Iona injured as Brumbies fall to Waratahs in Super Rugby trial

Iona lasted about 15 minutes in the Brumbies' 24-14 Super Rugby Pacific pre-season trial defeat to the NSW Waratahs in Bowral's torrential rain on Saturday.

Wallabies contender Noah Lolesio was left to pull the strings for the bulk of the contest before Nathan Carrol was sent in to marshal the troops in the final period.

Iona will be monitored leading into the Brumbies' intra-club trial next weekend, with Dan McKellar's side otherwise coming through unscathed. The Waratahs have their own headache to deal with after Will Harrison came off clutching his shoulder in the dying minutes.

"We'll have a look at Rodney Iona, a bit of a sore calf there. It was tough conditions to play any sort of footy," McKellar said.

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"It was a good day to test our defence and review our defence. It gives us something to review as a coaching group. When we applied pressure through our kicking game and put them under pressure with our kick chase, I thought that was good.

"Lineout and maul showed some good signs there, a lot of young blokes there doing it for the first time. A little bit disappointed with how we scrummaged but they were out there with pretty much their first-choice pack. It was a good learning for some of our young boys."

The day offered McKellar his first look at a former Wallaby in Brumbies colours in winger Chris Feauai-Sautia. Joining him in the starting XV for the first time were Hudson Creighton at outside centre, Remsy Lemisio at loosehead, Charlie Cale at flanker and Declan Meredith on the wing.

Seventeen players lined the Brumbies' bench. Some were waiting for a chance to press their claims for a cap, some were Wallaby tourists looking to dust off the cobwebs.

It was one of the club's rising stars who landed the first blow, as Ryan Lonergan enjoyed a dream start to his outing as Brumbies captain when he scored off an inside ball from hooker Billy Pollard inside two minutes.

The Waratahs soon hit back via centre Lalakai Foketi, but the scoreboard attendant would not be troubled again in the opening period as the two sides battled through torrential rain.

A thunderstorm held off in the Waratahs' intra-club Super W trial as Country prevailed 8-0 over City in a scrappy affair, but there would be no such luck for their Super Rugby Pacific counterparts.

The Brumbies were camped in their own half for much of the contest through ill-discipline and errors. Ben Donaldson made them pay while a James Turner double put the result beyond doubt.

"I'm disappointed with our discipline, or the penalty count against us anyway. That'll be interesting to review and have a look at," McKellar said.

"Discipline is an area we want to improve. We want to be winning penalty counts and not losing them. I don't know what the numbers are but I'd imagine it would have been a fair penalty count against us today so we're going to need to have a look at that."

"It was a tough day to stand out, wasn't it? I thought our locks played well. Tommy Hooper on his 21^st birthday was busy. Same with our back-row. They were challenging conditions."

The clash serves as the Brumbies' lone trial against a Super Rugby rival, with McKellar's squad now poised to play an internal trial which doubles as the final game of Rob Valetini's suspension.

AT A GLANCE

Super Rugby Pacific pre-season trial: NSW WARATAHS 24 (James Turner 2, Lalakai Foketi, Ben Donaldson tries; Donaldson, Will Harrison conversions) bt ACT BRUMBIES 14 (Ryan Lonergan, Lachie Albert tries; Noah Lolesio 2 conversions) at Bowral Rugby Club.

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