Update: 7:17PM Former All Black Jerry Collins and his wife have died in a tragic car crash in France.
The Collins and partner Alana Madill died instantly in the incident in the south of France and their three-month-old baby, Ayla, is in a critical condition after being airlifted to a hospital in Montpellier.
Collins’ agent, Tim Castle, has been appointed as the family spokesperson.
“The family and I are distraught at the death of a much-loved son, brother and friend, and his partner Alana, whom I got to know recently.
“I have been in touch with Jerry’s father Frank and other members of his family who are in Samoa at the moment. It’s obviously a terribly difficult time for them and together with New Zealand Rugby we are doing all we can to support them.
The road accident occurred at 3.10am local time on the A9 in the French region of Herault.
According to a statement from French police, Collins’ partner was driving the car and he was in the back seat. It’s not yet known why she lost control of the vehicle but the car first drifted to the left side of the road, then hit the security railing and shifted to the right side before stopping sideways on the highway when it got hit by a tourist bus.
Local paper Midi Libre said the bus driver freed Collins’ daughter from the wreckage by the time the emergency services arrived.
“The news has shocked us all and our thoughts are with Jerry and Alana’s families at this terribly sad time. We offer our deepest condolences to them and will support them as they come to terms with this devastating news,” New Zealand Rugby general manager rugby Neil Sorensen said.
Former All Blacks and Samoan midfielder Alama Ieremia, a close friend of Collins, was also distraught.
“It’s very, very said. I’m saddened because I knew him when he was a young college kid that I picked for the Wellington Samoan sevens team. He was so young but had the heart of a Lion,” Ieremia told Stuff. “I knew he was going to be an All Black and he was only in fifth form. I’m going to miss my boy.”
“It is with horror that I read that Jerry Collins has died tragically in France,” Muirhead said.” I spent many hours one-on-one with Jerry during his playing career with Wellington and the Hurricanes. Everybody knew of his bruising style of play, but not everybody knew JC.
“I first met him as a very shy 16-year-old being ushered into my clinic by a manager who told me he would be the next All Black out of Wellington. The severity of his injury even back then meant I had my doubts. Oh how wrong I was. Over the next 15 years he set the benchmark for ‘putting his body on the line’. He was hard, very hard. But he was also a very intelligent man. Streetwise, yes, but also with wisdom that all to rarely he would choose to impart on those around him. He had a fantastic sense of humour but he also had demons that he carried with him every day that will now go to the grave with him. There are so many good stories about Jerry that the general public will never truly know the real man he was.”
