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 when not on Warriors duty.
The former Cook Islands 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 in Italy.
He played with Coventry RFC (2009/2010),[3][4] and Malvern RFC (2010/2012).[5]
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.[6]
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 [7] and was the first player to reach 1,000 points for Glasgow Warriors[8] and was described by the Welsh Rugby Union as the equal of any goal-kicker in Europe.[8] 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 in 2003, (where he was said to have "masterminded Worcester's rise out of Division 1")[9] then moved to Bristol in 2005,[9] but was released by them in November 2006.[10]
Part of a sizeable Cook Islands population in New Zealand, Hayes qualified for Cook Islands representation through his mother.[8] He was capped twice by Cook Islands coming to the attention of Glasgow Rugby, now Glasgow Warriors.
The caps Hayes had earned for Cook Islands were to cause him later consternation as Hayes was eager to represent Scotland through residency.[11] Despite unable to play for Scotland, Hayes considers himself an honorary Scot after spending six seasons with Glasgow.[12]
