The Willis Halaholo interview: I have so much more to give after everything that's happened

Cast your eye across the professional rugby landscape and you'd struggle to find a player who has fought as hard to reach the top as Uilisi Halaholo.

Growing up in a deprived area of west Auckland to Tongan parents, Halaholo had to drag himself out of a life of poverty and gang culture to make it as a professional rugby player. Despite a handful of coaches doubting his ability, Halaholo has achieved much on the rugby field: stepping out of the shadows of All Black greats Ma'a Nonu and Conrad Smith to fire the Hurricanes to the Super Rugby title in 2016, before enjoying six successful years with Cardiff and earning 10 caps for Wales off the back of his scintillating form.

All of those achievements were secured against significant odds but Halaholo's latest battle will require just as much resilience. With Halaholo out of contract at the end of last season, and recovering from a hamstring injury, disaster struck when he ruptured his Achilles. It has been a painful time on the sidelines but Halaholo is approaching full fitness and is ready to continue his career.

"I've had back-to-back injuries but the first injury was a rugby incident where I got cro-rolled," Halaholo tells WalesOnline. "Things like that can't be helped. I put my body on the line for the team and that's not something I was too worried about.

"The latest injury was just a freak accident. It was my first week coming back from injury, and I was jogging in training when all of a sudden I fell over and heard a bang.

"The Achilles was fully torn so I've had to have it reattached. I'm 19 weeks post-op. This is my second week running on the machine. Hopefully I'll be on that for another two to three weeks and then I can get on the pitch by mid-August, run for another four to five weeks and by the end of September I can be back playing rugby."

There is never a good time to pick up an injury as a professional rugby player but his latest setback really was bad timing. A lengthy and protracted Welsh rugby contractual freeze caused mayhem, with the future of every out-of-contract player in Wales up in the air for an unnecessary length of time. With regional playing budgets getting aggressively driven down from next season, Halaholo - along with many others - found himself on the scrapheap.

"Personally for me it was really tough as I got injured last October so it was hard for me to have a say in anything," he said. "I think we needed more clarity as players and it felt like everyone was on different pages.

"The players were being told one thing and then the WRPA [Welsh Rugby Players' Association] was saying something else. It was a hard time for everyone involved, especially the boys out of contract.

"A lot of us players who are from the Pacific Islands have a lot of cultural responsibilities back home. That's the hard part about this situation. I'm not taking anything away from the Welsh boys who are out of contract but from my family's point of view we have no support network in Wales to fall back on.

"A lot of boys can go to family members' houses or get support from family who are within driving distance, or can look after the kids while you sort out things. Right now we have to juggle everything while having no support. Phil Davies [personal development manager] from the WRPA has been a huge help but there's only so much he can do."

Since joining Cardiff in 2016, Halaholo quickly became a fan favourite at the Arms Park with his dancing feet, explosive pace and power, while his distribution skills became a huge asset to the Welsh club.

More decorated international centres would go head-to-head with the midfielder but more often than not Halaholo would carve them up, leaving defenders trailing in his wake.

Off the field, Halaholo, his wife Sandra and their children now call Wales home. In his heart, Halaholo knew playing for Wales was right, perhaps at its most evident when he turned down a lucrative offer from a big club in France to instead take a pay cut in 2021 in the hope of representing Wales.

"Wales is home for me now," Halaholo says passionately. "Apart from my eldest daughter this is all my other children know. Me and my wife feel part of the local community and Wales is a big part of me. If I picked up a contract overseas I would find it hard to leave.

"We've all made loads of friends. Part of me still wants to pick up another contract in Wales. Our visa has run out and I have applied for a new one.

"If I wanted to pack it in, I would have moved back to New Zealand. We really want to stay and become residents and also give myself a chance to pick up another contract. I felt the best place to do that was here in Cardiff but I had to extend the visa on its own."

Halaholo isn't far away from returning to full fitness, and is supremely confident he can still perform at the highest level. He is inspired by other players of Pacific Islands origin such as his former Cardiff centre partner Rey Lee-Lo and ex-Scarlets No. 8 Sione Kalamafoni, who are still playing in their mid 30s.

Halaholo, 33, is adamant he still has more than a few years left at the top.

"I am 100% confident I can still make a huge impact at Champions Cup and even international level," he said. "I've got a lot more in these legs. I was playing well enough before my injury. If anything, a new environment might bring out even more from me.

"Seeing boys playing into their mid and late 30s at a high level inspires me. I've definitely still got a lot to give. If you look back at the games I played before I got injured, anyone will tell you I've still got it in me.

"I was part of the 2021 Six Nations winning side. If anything, this time off has prolonged my career, and maybe it's freshened my body up a bit. Hand on heart, I don't think my body is at a stage where I can't do this anymore. I still feel I can do this week in week out, it's more of a case of being unlucky with picking up these little injuries."

Halaholo is open-minded when it comes to where his next contract will take him. Playing in France has always appealed to him, and with the Rugby World Cup set to interfere with the start of the domestic season there, signing for a Top 14 or Pro D2 club as a medical joker (injury cover) seems a likely bet.

"Watching the Top 14, I think that would suit the way I play," said the 33-year-old. "I love playing heads-up rugby, having a go and throwing the ball about.

"If I'm lucky enough to get an opportunity to play in France I think you'll see the best in me, but having said that I wouldn't be against staying in Wales. I appreciate the current financial struggles of the regions but I'd be willing to compromise with regards salary to help the club out.

"I would like to put the red jersey on again so I can finish on a high note because the last time I played for Wales we lost to Italy, and that doesn't sit well with me."

Next season, it would be a pleasant surprise if all four Welsh regions didn't struggle on the field with cuts in the playing budgets resulting in squad sizes being dramatically reduced. While each side will have a core group of international players, the World Cup and 2024 Six Nations will result in those individuals hardly taking the field for their regions. As a result, youth will be relied upon more, and while this may sound like a positive move on the face of it, it is also a gamble.

The more astute rugby pundit would be concerned at the prospect of a side full of academy players taking to the field like lambs to the slaughter against the likes of Leinster, Munster, Stormers or the Bulls. According to Halaholo, this is why retaining and recruiting overseas players is vitally important to developing the next batch of Welsh internationals.

"The teams in Wales who have been successful, they've had quality and experienced overseas players who have played in different environments," he said. "Years ago there was a strong batch of overseas players in Wales like Jerry Collins, Marty Holah and Xavier Rush who mentored young Welsh players, and as a result these Welsh players went on to star at international level.

"I'm sure most of them would tell you a lot of their mentors, and people who they've modelled their game on, are those players who have come from different environments. Also, that's another reason I wanted to stay at Cardiff. Me and Rey have built a good relationship with a lot of the young boys and we see so much potential in them.

"We don't want that to be damaged by them getting thrown out there against teams like Leinster or the Stormers before they are ready. You don't want to see their confidence take a hit, especially in a World Cup year where they will have lots of their senior players missing with Wales. I feel like it would be beneficial to have some more senior experienced players around to help them out and guide them.

"Look at when Cardiff were stuck in South Africa we had two games in the Champions Cup against Toulouse and Harlequins. There was a core group of seniors who stayed back who were available like myself, Rey, Tomos Williams and Josh Adams. You then had semi-pro players, and academy players like Theo Cabango and Jacob Beetham.

"With the experienced boys there guiding them around, it allowed us to be competitive, and they'll tell you themselves that we gave them confidence."

Halaholo has enjoyed a storied rugby career so far. If he were to pack his bags up to continue it with an opportunity overseas, there's no doubt that Welsh rugby would be poorer for it.