Former Wales international Uilisi Halaholo has revealed his next challenge and opened up on the brutal struggles he faced during his rugby career after announcing his retirement from the game.
The 36-year-old confirmed earlier this week that his playing days were over, bringing the curtain down on a career that saw him earn 10 international caps for Wales and win a Six Nations title. Born in Auckland, he joined Cardiff in 2016 and became a fan favourite during an eight-year stay in the Welsh capital, making over 100 appearances and winning the Challenge Cup in 2018.
Having started out in his native New Zealand, Halaholo qualified for Wales on residency and made his debut in the 2021 Six Nations, having initially been called up by Wayne Pivac in 2019. He would later go on to also represent Tonga on the international stage, qualifying to play for them at last year’s Pacific Nations Cup via his family heritage.
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The powerful centre, who left Cardiff in 2024 to return to New Zealand and represent NPC side Bay of Plenty, has now opened up on the highs and lows of his career with former teammate James Marshall on his ‘What A Lad’ podcast, admitting he had been weighing up retirement for a few years following a succession of injuries.
“I think it’s probably been coming for a while now, probably a few years I’ve been thinking about it,” said Halaholo. “But I’m finally ready to put the boots down and put some work boots on. It was a tough decision, but the body just knows.
“I think the last couple teams that I’ve been a part of professionally, I’ve been struggling to recover as fast as I used to back in the day. I think a lot of ex players will understand and know what that’s like.
“Usually, you play Saturday, you can get up Monday, train again. But it wasn’t until Thursday that I was ready to get up and train again, so that’s just the body pretty much telling me it’s time to give it up.”
After ending his playing career, Halaholo admits he is keen to pursue coaching, but has also branched outside of rugby and moved into youth work since returning to New Zealand.
“I’ve actually been getting into a bit of coaching,” he explained. “I know every rugby player thinks they can become a coach, but I’ve just started off by going back to my home club and just giving back in that way.
“If I do want to take that path, I’m glad that I’m starting at the grassroots level, it really tests your patience. It’s been challenging but I’m enjoying it.”
The former Cardiff star added: “I’ve also got into a bit of youth work, mentoring troubled youths. It’s an easy path to take, coming from that background and understanding a lot of those kids that are troubled.
“It’s a cruisy job for me, in that I can probably relate to them a lot more easily than a lot of the other workers and mentors. It’s a rewarding job, but also eye-opening going into a lot of these kids’ houses and seeing how they’re growing up.
“So yeah, that’s what I’m up to now, just doing a bit of youth work, but I still love my rugby, man. I do want to stick into a bit of coaching in some capacity and we’ll see where it takes me.”
While Halaholo’s career took him across the globe and saw him win some of the biggest prizes in world rugby, it was also beset with injury problems, and the former Cardiff favourite admits the string of setbacks left him in a “dark way”.
Opening up on the “toughest time” of his career, he recalled rupturing his Achilles in 2013, a setback which came as he prepared to make his return to action after months on the sidelines with a hamstring injury.
“I tore my hamstring and I came back,” he said. “My first week back to play, on that Thursday, ruptured my Achilles. Then, two weeks later, the club tells tells me they’re bankrupt and can’t offer me a extension, which played a part in us coming home.
“It was tough at the time. I had my operation on my Achilles and a week later, my wife gave birth to our fifth child. So me and my wife were both bedridden pretty much. It was probably the toughest time of my career.
“Having to watch my 15-year-old daughter run the household at the time, it was tough bro. We had a newborn, I was pretty much in a cast and couldn’t do anything. Mentally, I was battling being injured and not knowing where my next paycheck was coming.
“It was really tough and I had to overcome a lot, because I was just in a dark way at the time,” Halaholo added. “I had just finished 10, 11 months of rehab, and being in rehab for a long time really builds your character and tests your resilience.
“I felt like I had got over that and then to be injured straight away like that, not even getting a couple of games in. It was non-stop like that, being told no contract, my wife having a baby, that whole month was just hard.”
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