10 Things You Didn’t Know About Jerry Collins!

He was Player of the Tournament at the 1999 World Junior Championships (Under-19) which New Zealand won, before going on to become the first player from that team to be called up to the All Blacks in 2001.

Collins was cousins with Newcastle winger Sinoti Sinoti and former All Blacks captain and Hurricanes teammate Tana Umaga.

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.

Collins retired from international rugby in May 2008. Shortly afterwards, he played in a rugby league match in the Wellington Competition, registered under a different name. The team was fined.

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 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

After leaving the Hurricanes, Collins played for Toulon during the 2008-09 season, joining Sonny Bill Williams in the club's aggressive recruitment drive

In Samoa, where he grew up, it was one of three movies to watch at the cinema, Collins explained. The other two were Seven Brides For Seven Brothers and Rambo.

French crash investigators say Collins’ final courageous act involved him throwing his body over his daughter to protect her from the impact.

Porirua Park Stadium was officially renamed the Jerry Collins Stadium on 25 March 2016 in his honour