Willis Halaholo has recorded an emotional 17-minute long video which reveals his full devastation over the nightmare injury which has left him facing a hugely uncertain future.
The Welsh international centre speaks about how he was left shaking after rupturing his Achilles in training just two days before he was due to make his comeback for Cardiff after a six month lay-off with a hamstring tear.
He also admits he is considered quitting, but the video then shows him emotionally telling himself he wasn’t raised like that and declaring his determination to fight on.
The out-of-contract Halaholo confirms he had been offered a new deal by Cardiff which was just too low to accept. There had been other options on the table, but he is now deeply concerned about his job prospects due to his serious injury. The 32-year-old was due to undergo surgery on Tuesday (March 7) and faces six to nine months out of action.
“I had worked so hard to come back and I was in the team [to play Ulster],” he said, speaking in the video posted to his wife’s YouTube channel.
“I was in training [on Thursday] and I just went to take off and it felt like someone had tripped me up or like a sniper had hit me. The boys said they heard a pop sound.
“As soon as I fell, I looked behind me to the first person there and I was like ‘why did you trip me up?’ “He was puzzled and said ‘I wasn’t near you, no-one tripped you up’.
“That’s when I knew ‘OK, something’s gone here’. I went in and I knew straight away. I am not going to lie, the first couple of hours I was shaking.
“I am gutted. It was just the worst luck ever. It’s been injury after injury over the last couple of years. But I think what makes it worse is the situation we are in at the moment with Welsh rugby and contract situations.”
Cardiff’s playing budget will be slashed by some £2million next season amid major cost-cutting across the regional game and that has seen them offer drastically reduced deals to out-of-contract players, including Halaholo, who has been at the Arms Park since 2016.
“What’s been offered is not even enough to feed my family,” said the father-of-four.
There were other options in the pipeline, with French clubs understood to be interested in acquiring his services, but now his new long-term injury has left him worried about the future.
“My agent has been working hard to get clubs to look at me,” said the five-cap former Hurricanes centre. “There were a few clubs that were prepared to take me on. They just wanted to watch a game or two and then get my signature. But that’s been made harder now. That’s the hard part, just that situation and the uncertainty of it all.
“As a father and a husband, you want to feel that sense of security, knowing you can provide for your kids. These are all the things that are coming in my mind.
“On the way to the surgeon, I was starting to shake a bit. I was having an experience, I have never felt like that before.
“It’s out of my control now. I am backed in a corner. There is literally nothing I can do to get myself a contract. I can’t do anything.
“This injury is going to take me out until next season. My current contract finishes in July. My pay is finished then.
“I will have another three or four months after that before I am back playing. It’s going to be hard to get a contract. I don’t know what’s going to be offered.
“Me and my agent had a certain number we were going to go for, but I’m probably at the bottom of the list as an injured player. That’s the reality of rugby. We will see how it goes.
“I guess all you can do when you get backed in a corner is look up and pray. I’ve just got to look to the man upstairs and just have faith and hope that something will get there.”
Expressing his devastation, Halaholo continued: “I am gutted man. Honestly I am gutted. There have been some thoughts and doubts of hanging the boots up. But I just feel I have got too much to give.”
He then lectures himself, saying: “Nah, I wasn’t raised like this, come on. Hoka ('fight' in Tongan) all the way until there is zero per cent left in me. Right now, there is 0.5 per cent.”
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