Tommy Hayes (born 13 December 1973 in Tokoroa,

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 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

) is a Cook Island international

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. He plays as a fly-half.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

Hayes started off with amateur club Waikato Rangers in New Zealand. As part of the Glasgow Warriors contract Hayes was allowed to play for the amateur side

Glasgow Hawks Glasgow Hawks is an amateur rugby union team in Glasgow, Scotland. They were Premiership Division One champions for three consecutive seasons from 2003–04 to 2005–06. History In Paris on 27 August 1995 a meeting of the International Rugby ...

when not on Warriors duty. The former

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

international joined amateur side

Moseley RFC Birmingham Moseley Rugby Club is an English rugby union club, based in Birmingham, that compete in the third tier of English rugby. They were historically the premier rugby club in Birmingham, reaching the final of the John Player Cup three ti ...

for the second half of the 2006/07 season. He returned to Moseley for the latter part of the 2007/08 season after a spell at

Gran Parma Amatori Parma Rugby is a historical Italian rugby union team founded in 1971. History From Amatori to Gran Ducato Gran Parma Rugby was founded in 1999 following the merger of ''Amatori Parma Rugby'' and ''Rugby Noceto''. From 1999 to 2002 they ...

in Italy. He played with

Coventry RFC Coventry Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union club based in Coventry, England. The club enjoyed great success during the 1960s and 70s, with many players representing their countries. Coventry's home ground is the Butts Park Arena, ...

(2009/2010), and

Malvern RFC Malvern Rugby Football Club is a Rugby Union club based in the town of Malvern, Worcestershire, England. They currently play in Midlands 2 West (South) - a tier 7 league in the English rugby union system - after being relegated from Midlands 1 ...

(2010/2012). Hayes now plays at Pershore RFC.

Provincial and professional career

Hayes quickly progressed from amateur to playing for Waikato Province. The professional Glasgow side signed Hayes in 1997. He went on to play 121 times for the professional Glasgow side and was the first player to reach 1,000 points for

Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became t ...

and was described by the Welsh Rugby Union as the equal of any goal-kicker in Europe. The 121 caps total includes friendly matches; for competitive matches his total is 115 caps amassing 1165 points. From Glasgow, Hayes moved to

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union club, based in Worcester, England, that is currently in Administration (law), administration and which has been suspended and will be relegated from Premiership Rugby, the top ...

in 2003, (where he was said to have "masterminded Worcester's rise out of Division 1") then moved to

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

in 2005, but was released by them in November 2006.

International career

Part of a sizeable Cook Islands population in New Zealand, Hayes qualified for Cook Islands representation through his mother. He was capped twice by Cook Islands coming to the attention of Glasgow Rugby, now

. The caps Hayes had earned for Cook Islands were to cause him later consternation as Hayes was eager to represent Scotland through residency. Despite unable to play for Scotland, Hayes considers himself an honorary Scot after spending six seasons with

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Coaching career

Hayes spent a season as backs coach (and a player) with

(2009/2010), Tommy now coaches at Pershore RFC.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hayes, Tommy 1973 births Living people Cook Island rugby union coaches Cook Island rugby union players New Zealand sportspeople of Cook Island descent New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Rugby union fly-halves Glasgow Warriors players Moseley Rugby Football Club players Worcester Warriors players Rugby union players from Tokoroa Coventry R.F.C. players Cook Islands international rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in Scotland Cook Island expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate rugby union players in England Cook Island expatriate sportspeople in England