Jerry Collins

Jerry Collins

Date of birth	4 November 1980 (1980-11-04) (age 31)
Place of birth	Apia, Western Samoa
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	108 kg (17 st 0 lb)
School	St Pat's Town; (Previously Tawa College)
University	Victoria University
Notable relative(s)	Tana Umaga Mike Umaga (cousins)
Occupation(s)	Professional rugby player.
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position	Flanker, Number eight
New Zealand No.	1002
Professional / senior clubs
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2008–09 2009–11	Toulon Ospreys	22	(20)
Provincial/State sides
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
1999–2007	Wellington	47	(55)
correct as of 2007-06-08.
Super Rugby
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2001–2008	Hurricanes	74	(27)
correct as of 2010-03-01.
National team(s)
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2001–2007	New Zealand	48	(25)
correct as of 2008-25-03.

Jerry Collins (born 4 November 1980 in Apia, Samoa) is a New Zealand rugby union footballer who formerly played for the national team, the All Blacks in which he was capped 48 times.^[1][2] He now plays for Yamaha Jubilo, in Japanese Top league rugby.

Early career

Collins made New Zealand Secondary Schools through his performance in the 1st XV side at St. Patrick's in Wellington for two seasons running in 1997 and 1998 and was Player of the Tournament at the 1999 World Junior Championships (Under-19) which New Zealand won, becoming the first player for that team to be called up to the All Blacks.

Professional career and the All Blacks

Since debuting for the All Blacks in 2001, Collins has gone on to play 46 test matches, scoring four tries.

He was named as All Black captain in world cup matches against Portugal and Romania played in Lyon and Toulouse respectively, once again standing in for regular captain Richie McCaw. Collins is known for his hard hits throughout his rugby career and his physical strength earned him a number of nicknames.

In June 2006, he captained the All Blacks in a one-off Test match against Argentina, where he led his team to a 25–19 victory in Buenos Aires becoming the 61st captain of the All Blacks.

In October 2007, following New Zealand's exit from the 2007 Rugby World Cup, Collins was vacationing in Devon when he was spotted by Barnstaple Rugby Football Club's head coach Kevin Squire who invited him to watch it play at the weekend. Much to the club's surprise Collins turned up so they asked if he minded running a coaching session with the junior section. After doing this Kevin Squire thanked Collins and asked if there was anything they could do to repay him, to which Collins replied he just wanted to play rugby. So the following Saturday Collins turned out for the club's 2nd XV match against local side Newton Abbot. In a match a few weeks later for the Barbarians he wore the Barnstaple socks.

He played rugby league in the Wellington Competition and he registered as a different name in result the team was fined.

Collins retired from the All Blacks in May 2008.

In May 2009, Collins agreed a two year deal to join Welsh Region team Ospreys, scoring a try on his league debut against Irish team Connacht Rugby.^{[citation needed]} While playing against Ulster he made one of his hard hits while running with the ball and colliding with Ulster player Dan Tuohy and resulting with Dan being knocked out. He also captained the Ospreys against Munster which they won, taking over from Paul James as the club's co-captain. He was Ospreys' Players' Player of the Year in the 09/10 season. He is currently in the 2011-2012 Yamaha Júbilo squad playing in the Top League in Japan.

Other

• Cousin of former All Blacks captain Tana Umaga
• Captained the All Blacks for the first time against Argentina in Buenos Aires in June 2006.
• Scored two tries against Italy in New Zealand’s opening match of the RWC 2007.

References

1. ^ "Collins ends New Zealand career". BBC. 26 May 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/7419984.stm. Retrieved 27 May 2008. 
2. ^ "Nine new caps in All Blacks squad". BBC. 27 May 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/7420945.stm. Retrieved 27 May 2008. 

External links

• Jerry Collins at AllBlacks.com
• Jerry Collins at The Official Hurricanes Website
• A few Jerry Collins video clips at Rugbydump.com video website

Persondata
Name	Jerry Collins
Alternative names	JC
Short description	New Zealand Rugby union footballer.
Date of birth	4 November 1980
Place of birth	Apia, Western Samoa
Date of death
Place of death