Professional Career and The All Blacks
After debuting for the All Blacks in 2001, Collins went on to play 48 test matches, scoring five 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.
Collins retired from the All Blacks 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 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. 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.
Read more about this topic: Jerry Collins
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