Collins, Jerry

The early years

Collins graduated from high school in New Zealand, played for the rugby team of St. Patrick's College in Kilbearney from 1996 to 1998. In 1999, he won the World Cup with the New Zealand national team of players no older than 19 years old and was named the best player in the tournament. He graduated from St. Patrick's College in Wellington and Queen Victoria University .

Professional Club Career

Collins made his debut in 1999 for the Wellington Provincial Team in the National Provincial Championships, and in 2001 held his first match for the Hurricanes. He played 74 matches for the Hurricanes team from 2001 to 2008, including in the 2006 Super 14 final against the Crusaders at AMI Stadium. In 2008, he played a rugby league match in the Wellington Championship under a different name, his team was fined for cheating ^[5] .

In October 2007, after the World Cup, Collins was on vacation in Devon when Barnsteple head coach Kevin Squire suggested he play one match on the weekend, which he agreed with pleasure. Collins worked with the club’s youth team for some time, and the very next Saturday he entered the field against the Newton Abbot club ^[6] . A few weeks later he had a match for the Barbarian club, wearing the Barnsteple club leggings.

After leaving Hurricanes in the 2008/2009 season, Collins played for Toulon, joining New Zealander Sonny Bill Williams as a master of aggressive play ^[7] . In May 2009, Collins signed a two-year agreement with the Welsh club Ospreyz and became the best player in the 2009/2010 season. In early 2011, he went to the Japanese club Yamaha Jubilo, where he played until 2013. In January 2015, he entered into an agreement with the Narbonne club from the second division of France as a replacement for Australian Rocky Elsom, who completed his career.

Team

In 2001, Collins made his New Zealand debut and held 48 test matches with five attempts and 25 points. In 2003, he became the bronze medalist of the World Cup with the national team. In June 2006, Collins brought the New Zealand national team to a test match against Argentina as captain, bringing a victory with a score of 25:19 in Buenos Aires . Collins thereby became the 61st player to put on a captain's armband in the history of matches of the New Zealand national team. In 2007, at the World Championships in France, he was captain of the national team ^[8] in games against Portugal and Romania , replacing captain Richie McCaw . The New Zealand team left the tournament at the quarterfinal stage, and in the main team of the country, he ended his career in May 2008. In 2013, he joined the Classic All Blacks veteran team to play against Fiji .

Collins had three cousins ​​- former captain of the New Zealand national team and Hurricanes teammate Tan Umag , as well as two Samoa national team players - Mike Umaga (participant of the 1995 and 1999 world championships) and Sinoti Sinoti (made his debut for Samoa in 2010 ) His wife was Alana Madill, at the beginning of 2015 they had a daughter, Isla.

In March 2013, Collins was arrested in the Japanese city of Hamamatsu : he went to the store, carrying a 17-centimeter knife ^{[9] [10]} . Friends explained that Jerry carried a knife only for self-defense, as someone had threatened him ^{[11] [12]} . Jerry was soon released, and he stated that he was greatly relieved, as he feared for his life ^[13] .

On June 5, 2015, Jerry Collins and Alana Madill tragically died in a car accident: their car stopped on the A9 highway near the city of Beziers , after which a bus with tourists from Portugal crashed into the car ^[14] . Their daughter Isla survived the accident ^[15] and was sent to Montpellier Hospital in critical condition ^{[16] [17] [18]} . For a month, Islay took an intensive care course, surviving a two-week coma. In early July, the Madill family decided to take Isla to Canada, and the girl continued to undergo rehabilitation at a Canadian hospital ^[19] .

• On June 8, before the match of the World Youth Championship against Argentina, the players of the New Zealand youth team danced the hack dance in memory of Collins: on that day, New Zealanders won 32:29 ^[20] . Later, their action was repeated by the players of the main rugby team, dancing a hack at the place of Collins' death, as reported by the player of the national team Nekhemiya Tailata ^[21] .
• March 25, 2016 in memory of Jerry Collins was renamed the stadium " Porirua Park " ^[22] .

• New Zealand National Team Profile
• Profile on the Ospreyz club website