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Wales Online
Wales Online
Sport
Jon Doel

Why Willis Halaholo is being called Uilisi in Wales v Scotland match

It's a big day for Willis Halaholo as he's set to win his first cap for Wales, but Six Nations viewers will probably notice he is not being referred to as Willis at all.

Instead, his name on the official team sheet is Uilisi Halaholo.

That's because his full name is actually Sean Alfred Uilisi Halaholo, with Willis just the nickname he has gone by over the years.

Many Wales supporters were asking about the name change after he was named as Uilisi in Thursday's team announcement, while some away teams in the PRO14 have previously referred to him as S. Halaholo in match programmes, in reference to the 'Sean' name he also carries.

Although born in New Zealand, Halaholo is of Tongan heritage, with Cardiff Blues confirming Uilisi is the official first name he uses.

It's a similar situation to Taulupe Faletau, who was always widely called Toby until a few years ago when he asked for it to be changed to his real Tongan name.

Growing up in Wales as a youngster, Faletau became known as Toby, and he's still happy for people to call him by the name on a day-to-day basis.

Explaining why he wanted to be referred to as Taulupe in official team correspondences, Faletau said: "Toby really isn’t anything to do with me, it’s just a name I kind of made up. So I just wanted Taulupe on my jersey, because it’s my name!

"But in person and whatever else, Toby is fine, perfectly fine."

As for Halaholo, he starts on the bench against Scotland after a long road to the Wales squad. He was initially named in Wayne Pivac's first Wales squad in November 2019 but suffered a serious injury which put his ambitions on hold.

He previously represented Tonga at U20 level and qualifies for Wales on residency grounds, having moved here in 2016.

He has two Welsh-born children and a remarkable personal story to tell after going off the rails as a young player, which you can read here.

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