Tommy Hayes (born 13 December 1973 in Tokoroa,

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

) is a Cook Island international

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

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 The Cook Islands is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately . The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers of ocean. Avarua is its ...

international joined amateur side Moseley RFC 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 (2009/2010), and Malvern RFC (2010/2012). Hayes now plays at Pershore RFC. Hayes cited that his greatest achievement and proudest moment in his rugby career was winning the North Midlands Vase in 2023.

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 The 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 beca ...

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 are a professional rugby union club based in Worcester, England. They most recently played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby union, before being suspended by the Rugby Football Union, RFU in September 2 ...

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

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

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 is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Coaching career

Hayes spent a season as backs coach (and a player) with Coventry RFC (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 rugby union players in England Rugby union fly-halves Glasgow Warriors players Birmingham Moseley Rugby players Worcester Warriors players Rugby union players from Tokoroa Coventry R.F.C. players Cook Islands international rugby union players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in Scotland Cook Island expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Cook Island expatriate sportspeople in England New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Italy Cook Island expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate rugby union players in Italy Cook Island expatriate rugby union players