Background
Participant of a sizeable Cook Islands population in New Zealand, Hayes qualified for Cook Islands representation through his mother.
Participant of a sizeable Cook Islands population in New Zealand, Hayes qualified for Cook Islands representation through his mother.
He plays as a fly-half. Starting off for amateur club Waikato Rangers in New Zealand, Hayes quickly progressed to playing for Waikato Province. He was capped twice by Cook Islands coming to the attention of Glasgow Rugby, now Glasgow Warriors.
The professional Glasgow side signed Hayes in 1997.
As part of the contract Hayes was allowed to play for the amateur side Glasgow Hawks when not on Warriors duty. He went on to play 121 times for the professional Glasgow side and was the first player to reach 1000 points for Glasgow Warriors and was described by the Welsh Rugby Union as the equal of any goal-kicker in Europe.
The 121 caps total includes friendly matches. Foreign competitive matches his total is 113 caps amassing 1131 points.
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. From Glasgow, Hayes moved to Worcester Warriors in 2003, (where he was said to have "masterminded Worcester"s rise out of Division 1") then moved to Bristol in 2005, but was released by them in November 2006. The former Cook Islands international joined amateur side Moseley Reconstruction Finance Corporation 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 in Italy.
After a season as backs coach and a player with Coventry Reconstruction Finance Corporation (2009/2010), Malvern Reconstruction Finance Corporation (2010/2012). Tommy now coaches at Pershore Reconstruction Finance Corporation.