He doesnt like the expression, but hes

Poriruas self-made man. The king of

bone-crunching rugby tackles. The worlds
leading blindside flanker, ensconced in the
surreal world of the All Blacks. But thats
not really him. MARGOT BUTCHER finds
the grounded Jerry Collins smarter than
you think. And possibly tougher.

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JERRY COLLINS
HARD OUT

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JUNE 2007 NORTH & SOUTH

65

MARK COOTE / GETTY IMAGES

Poriruas self-made man still lives on the edge of the working-class, state
house Wellington suburb.

hen the traffic is streaming down the

Johnsonville-Porirua motorway, the
commute from Jerry Collins house to
training, at a small, scruffy ground in
Newtown on the other side of Wellington
city, takes an hour and 15 minutes.
Thats on a good day, and even on a good day Rugby League Park
is a mildewy place. It has an undulating surface and cold, concrete
changing rooms, its very name suggestive of working-class toil.
A sharp counterpoint, these no-frills environs, to the oftensurreal world of professional rugby players: this is where you
keep it real. The Hurricanes and Wellington sides train here, the
All Blacks too, and for Collins the journey up Adelaide Rd and
the outline of the eucalypts on the embankment are as familiar
as the back of his hand. But he doesnt give a stuff about the
grounds kinks and crappy facilities. If he did, he wouldnt, for the
past six years or so, have spent two and a half hours most days
driving here and back. He calls it, quite simply, going to work.
The All Blacks flanker lives alone in Cannons Creek, on the
edge of Porirua, in the house in which he grew up. Cannons
Creek has a sheltering backdrop of large, sheep-sprinkled hills
and small grids of pine forest dominated by a large, bleached
canvas of low-yield pasture that is part regional park.
Its bareness under the open sky is all that makes it striking:
strong and elemental behind the flat lattice of the suburb, a
district of row after row of homogeneous state or ex-state houses
sitting on blank, blistered lawns. Appearances havent changed
much in 40 years. The Four Square on the corner is painted
a screeching banana yellow and wears heavy-duty security
screens all around; inside, it sells coconuts and taro to a brown
neighbourhood that empties on Sundays as quickly as churches fill.
This is the sort of hood where a swish renovation would
stick out like a gold-plated letterbox and, apart from the satellite
dish tacked bang on the front, Collins house looks like all the
other little wooden boxes in his street. And thats very much
the point the symbol, in a way, of a tough, complex character
who firmly believes its whats on the inside that matters.
When you watch him at training, physically Collins stands out
as an unusual athlete, even amid his All Black peers. For a start,
in a sharp breeze hes the only one wearing a Y-backed singlet
instead of sleeves, and his arms, which are massive, hang out of it
like legs of mutton.His biceps are officially the largest of the squad,
apparently measuring 52cm in circumference. His head, hands
and forearms are huge, shoulders broad, trunk meaty, his overall
shape that of an inverted cone. His legs arent inconsequential but,
against the solidity of his upper body, they look like stovepipes.
He has concrete in those shoulders and, combined
with a heavy gaze, its no wonder hes feared, regarded
as one of the games hardest tacklers. Hes built more
like a heavyweight boxer than a rugby flanker.
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NORTH & SOUTH JUNE 2007

ts a mixture of genetics, sweat and mentality. I was

really, really skinny as a kid, Collins will tell me,
with insistence. I was always tough, though. I was
skinny, but I would play up the middle in league.
I always had guts. Thats why coaches liked me.
Apart from that, he reckons that as a boy he was entirely average
at team sports, whether it was rugby or soccer, basketball, league.
He never learned how to run fast, he says. Was never the quickest
in any team, or the strongest or most skilful or the best or the fittest.
But he was the hardest worker and he was quickly playing above his
age group playing under-21 rugby at just 14 and against men by the
time he was 16, in the forwards, where bruising physicality matters.
To be sure, his rugby CV glitters. For two years running
he was picked for the national secondary schools team
and was made captain. He sprung into the New Zealand
under-19 side in 1998 and, when they won the world junior
championships the following year, he was named player of
the tournament from a group including Richie McCaw.
Whats more, he was the first player from that team called into
the All Blacks, after two years grooming in the New Zealand Under21s and New Zealand A, despite some cruel injuries that well come
to later. By rugbys measure it was a fast, flawless rise to the top.
Yet and you will become used to these paradoxes from
Collins he insists he never took himself seriously until he
was 18, and that was only because hed done all right against
big hairy men in some social sevens tournaments.
Dudes would put together an invitation team to go off and tour
Samoa or Tonga and chuck in a schoolboy like me for fun and I
learned some good lessons from those old school guys. I went to the
Singapore 10s while still at college and Id gone pretty well, so after a
couple of years I thought Id give a professional rugby career a crack.
He considers his first tough game when he was barely
out of school was his debut NPC appearance for Wellington,
a match he remembers for the fact he was lining up against
Michael Jones, a player hed only ever seen on TV.
A lot of my friends, theyd just finished work and were all
at the pub watching it. They saw me run on, and when I stood
next to Michael Jones in the lineout is when we met. I said,
Wassup, Mike? and he said, Hey. That was pretty much
when I said to myself, Hey look man, I made it. I got here.

ollins was nonetheless a surprise to the sporting public

when coach Wayne Smith and his fellow All Black
selectors picked the 20-year-old for the 2001 test
squad. Judging by the first training camp that season,
it was equally a surprise to Collins: rushing back fromSamoa,
where hed been cutting scrub for relatives, he was covered in
mosquito bites, had conjunctivitis and was crook from the water,
a sad-looking specimen unable to perform his fitness test.
It was the first of many surprises back then, Smith recalls
JUNE 2007 NORTH & SOUTH

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NORTH & SOUTH JUNE 2007

lesson I took from working: how people treat people.

Unprompted, more often than not, there werent many topics
that didnt come back, in some reflective, illustrative manner, to his
upbringing and his distinctly working-class, immigrant roots.
It was, he kept reiterating, a good upbringing in a
tight-knit, principled family. Weeks meant schoolwork.
Saturdays was rugby, Sundays meant going to church
with his father, David Collins, followed by league.
The men in the family are Catholic, but his mother, Galuia, and
sisters Shaolin, Brenda and Helen attended a Protestant church. His
parents were united, however, in making sure all their children made
the most of education. Education was our ticket, says Collins, who
earned an A bursary at St Patricks College, a school far across town

GETTY IMAGES

with a smile. He was the only player Ive ever had who refused to
take a sponsored car: he thought it would get put up on blocks in
Porirua and someone would flog the wheels, which he didnt think
Ford would like; and he wanted to keep working on the council
rubbish trucks, which was rather unique for a modern, professional
rugby player. It quickly became apparent he does things his way a
different sort of person to a lot of the others Id been dealing with.
Admittedly they took a punt on the green Collins, at that age
an incomplete loosie in a position that takes much refinement.
But wed seen something special and felt it was just a matter of
time before he came through, says Smith, so we thought wed
accelerate the process and pick him early to get him into the set-up.
Besides, 1970s/80s loose forward Graham Mourie was coach
of the Hurricanes and there was no better man than Graham to
be teaching Jerry, or to get a line on him. He thought Jerry had a
special ability to work hard, and really special anticipation. We knew
because of the work Graham had been doing with him that hed have
good lines and understanding, so we didnt have too many fears.
That Jerry Collins worked as a council garbo when offered
his six-figure All Blacks contract (these days, fringe All Blacks
start on about $150,000) is a well-known Collins tale. He liked
the mateship, and it was great conditioning. That he refused
to be paid for chucking rubbish bags, from the day he got his
first Wellington rugby pay cheque, is far more revealing.
I threw rubbish for four years for fun but it taught me what
people are like, says Collins. Those four years I threw rubbish
for the same people every week, same route. They wouldnt
even give you a look. But when I got better at playing rugby,
thats when they started saying hello to you. Its the biggest

DOMINION POST

Collins and the sporting public were surprised when the 20-year-old was
picked for the 2001 All Blacks test squad. His mother Galuia (right) was
educational-pushy, he says, not pushy in sport.

JUNE 2007 NORTH & SOUTH

69

The All Blacks loosie hard man breaks away from the Springbok defence in
Rustenburg, South Africa, in the 2006 Tri Nations.

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Jerry Collins On...

brought up because they probably

in Kilbirnie, near Wellington Airport,
Racism In Rugby: A very
wouldnt be able to handle it, he
which his father believed offered
better prospects than Tawa College.
good friend of mine has called me offers candidly. Because theyd be
starting from a different base, you
They were never pushy in sport, but
a black bastard and I dont have
know? Times have changed, so Im
my parents were educational-pushy, and
going to have to adapt to be a parent,
quite sharp in the way they pushed us.
a problem with it because its left
but its going to be hard for me because
Galuia came from a very rural
on the field. Afterwards we get on Im a bit of a chip off the old block.
Samoan family and had never been
When he was 16, he ran away
to school in her life; apart from Jerry,
really well, but out there, you say
from home. A lot of things happen
her children are all now teachers.
and do whatever you need to.
to a person when theyre young
From her side of the family Collins
and I suppose I thought it was time
inherited Samoan and Chinese
for me to go out on my own. I was hanging out with guys who
ancestry; he is also part-German and Irish, accounting for his
were a couple of steps ahead of me and I suppose I just wanted
surname. Some dude probably jumped ship, he half-jokes, and
to be with them and thought I didnt need to go to school.
my first name came from a doctor. But few of his Samoan family
I took off for three weeks and the only reason I went home
still live in the islands. Most are scattered around the world, though
was my Dad got hold of the people I was staying with, rang
he still has some aunts and great-uncles in Apia, where he was
them up and told them my Mum hadnt eaten for three weeks
born. A great-uncle is a cabinet minister in Samoas Parliament.
and if she died while I was away then Id better move out of
Though raised in New Zealand, Collins clearly identifies
the country because he was going to kill me! I was so worried
with his Samoan heritage and religiously returns to the
I went home straight away and got a bit of a dust-up.
islands every year. Its a tonic for him, but he also feels the
Lets make it clear: Collins chuckled away at this tale and
cultural shift between his parents and his generations, the
its obvious he sees his father as a hard but fair figure in his
dichotomy of being a Samoan and a New Zealander.
life. Hard, he says, in a way that people are attracted to it.
I dont think I would bring up my kids the same way as I was

But truth be told the enduring macho image may just be the
s much as the ever-uncertain world of sport can be
greatest of those Collins paradoxes. Certainly we met with a friendly
predicted, Jerry Collins, the All Blacks loosie hard man,
interview: he was talkative, with a gentle speaking manner that
will notch his 50th test match this year, aged 26, during
somehow doesnt fit the visuals. He told us his hard-case stories,
the all-important Rugby World Cup. He will do so not
threw in some ripe jokes at his own expense, had a talent for
just as coach Graham Henrys pre-eminent number six but as the
swearing and was clearly not worried about keeping up a guard.
man regarded as the best blindside in the world, a man who can carve
But not one left-field or curly question threw him and
through a wall of players on attack and crumple opponents in defence.
he was a sharp listener, keen on distinguishing perceptions
Hardly a veteran, still on the ascent, he seems to have had a lock
from reality. Apparently one of the few All Blackswho
on success since he first kicked off this surreal double life. Wayne
dont need to write down lineout codes or plays for later
Smith, now an assistant coach and selector under Henry, quickly
reference, he is also smart enough to know when he can use
zeroes in on the All Blacks barnstorming 45-6 demolition of France,
that muscle-bound, pugilistic veneer to his advantage.
in Paris, on the 2004 end-of-year tour a game in which Collins
He hid behind that tough front as a youngster and admits that
could easily have bombed to illustrate his value to the team.
as a widely recognised adult he has been happy to dumb himself
Beforehand, as usual, the team went down to a local square
down for public consumption. People look at you and think youre
in the afternoon for a final run-through of plays and lineout
just a lug of muscle and theres nothing between your ears, he says.
calls, but when they piled out of the team minivans they realised
Its a good way to be, because then youve only got to measure up
Collins was AWOL. Smith: The team, to their credit, went
to yourself, and to be happy with yourself is the main thing.
ahead and prepared themselves, and just as we were leaving
Neither does he mind admitting that he was a roughneck
Jerry turned up. Hed simply forgotten the lineout run was
growing up in his gang-sprinkled suburb, but he was never a
on, which is highly unlike him, and he was full of remorse.
bully and thats something Im quite fucking proud of. I didnt
Now obviously we would have preferred not to have had that
have to bully anyone because I
disruption, but he went out and had one
was tough on the inside.
of the best games Ive seen him play
There were a few bad crowds
in the All Blacks jersey. It was a great
Jerry Collins On...
around, for sure, but Id walk past
example of his ability to overcome stress.
Being An All Black: Losing is
them in the street and wouldnt be
It said to me, This guys got something
special to be able to do that when
unacceptable and the attraction is scared to turn around and say, What
are you looking at? I was always like
he would have been feeling like shit,
the pressure that comes with that, that, but I was never bad, and theres
thinking hed let the boys down.
a difference between being tough and
Collins made a whopping 27
on and off the field. Which is a
being a criminal. I never robbed anyone.
tackles in that test and yet in midweird
thing
to
be
attracted
to,
but
Ive got no respect for guys who steal
2004 just a few months earlier
once youre there, theres no other from people and beat up people for
he had been far from secure in his
no reason. A lot of my friends were
status as a frontline All Black. Having
footie you want to play. You try
thieves and are still doing it today, but
started his international career at the
to measure up as many times as
they knew that shit was in their own
back of the scrum as a number eight,
hed been kept there when 2002-03
you can, because youll experience time, that they had to make sure they
didnt do that crap in front of me.
coach John Mitchell elevated Reuben
nothing else like it, the good and
Because of his god-fearing
Thorne to the All Blacks captaincy
upbringing?
I cant say Im overly
instantly filling the blindside flankers
the bad, in your whole career.
religious, but I believe in God and I
jersey. But with Henrys appointment
understand right from wrong and
to the coaching job the specialist
understand when bad things happen, but thats not all it is.
blindside position, Collins most natural berth, was once again up
Sometimes you can have two people growing up in the same
for grabs, while others muscled in on the number eight spot.
circumstances, but they meet different people and their paths
But the selectors made it clear that to fight off rival contenders
go different ways. I was lucky. But then, a lot of my friends come
and there was a posse of good blindsiders jostling for the slot at that
from one-parent families or broken homes, on the breadline, stuff
time Collins had to improve his tackling technique; meantime,
like that, and in the end it still comes down to the choice of the
he would find himself in the reserves more often than he liked.
individual. One of my mates, his parents split up, he was living with
Carrying the ball up the field, Collins tended to want to
his mum who was a druggie, and hes a lawyer in Sydney now.
smash into people rather than use a bit of guile and hit the
We were back in parable territory and Collins goes on to stress
weak side of the tackler, Wayne Smith explains. Sliding out of
he sees no reason to be sympathetic to kids playing up in his home
a tackle makes it a bit easier on yourself to perhaps win that
streets. I tell them in no uncertain terms to get to school when I see
collision, but he just wanted to run over the top of them, because
them down at the dairy in the middle of the morning. Because I know
hes tough and tends to come across as a macho character.
the majority of them are smart, you know? Theres no reason they
It wasnt until he was really made aware it was going to affect
cant do anything the European or Asian kids do at school: it comes
his career that he changed and became what I think is a much more
down to choices. Thats what my father showed me growing up. But
dangerous flanker, both in opposition and on attack. He can step
some of them just use their smarts for the wrong kind of things.
and weak-shoulder his opponent now and is less predictable
He calls Porirua one of the hardest school circuits for sportspeople
just as liable to give the pass away than he is to smash someone.
because the kids just give you crap. Still, judging from the number
Hes also recorded personal bests in his recent speed tests,and
of brown faces (none of whom he knows personally) tooting at
a shoulder-repair job should see his lineout lifting and jumping
him or stopping to clasp his hands as we stroll along Lambton
hit new marks. Says Smith, it will make him even better.
JUNE 2007 NORTH & SOUTH

71

jolted sideways during a Super 14 match against the Crusaders and

he crumpled to the ground clearly in a tsunami of pain, his torso
seemingly frozen, shivers went through all who were watching.
Hed heard an ominous sound, like bone breaking, in his
neck; all feeling was gone from his arm and as he lay there in the
middle of Jade Stadium he couldnt stop his foot twitching.
But the next day, as rugby reporters huddled glumly at the airport
to report on what they expected to be a season-ending if not careerending spinal injury, there was the human tackle bag breezing though
the terminal, a smile like a Cadillac grille above the stiff ruff of his
o be an All Blacks flanker means playing through
neck brace. Which, in Collins mind,
persistent, clawing
was hardly enough to stop him training
physical pain. This is
Jerry Collins On...
he was back within a fortnight.
something for which
Peeing On The Pitch: Im not
What is toughness? I dont think
both Collins and Richie McCaw,
its a quality, he reiterates, more a
on the openside, are known inside
proud of it, but I was unlucky. At
mentality. After all, during the entire
the All Blacks camp: an exceptional
the time I didnt think anything
nine years of his professional contract,
ability to hide the punishment.
there hasnt been a game when he hasnt
All Blacks doctor Deb Robinson
of it because a lot of people do
played through some pain or other.
confirms that throughout last year
I spend half my time in the
Collins played with cartilage and tendon it on the field. The Aussie boys
doctors or physios room getting pills
injuries, shoulder damage that must have werent offended. It was only
or something adjusted, he says. But
sent hot needles through his body every
when I picked up the paper the
all loose forwards would be lying
time he made a tackle or took a hit in
next day I realised someone had
if they said they werent carrying
his role as a professional bruiser. Yet he
something all the time; a lot of players
was prepared to ignore the pain, waiting
filmed it. My mum understood.
play with injuries. Generally theres
until the off season to undergo surgery
She said, Mate, if youve got to
not a day you could honestly say
to trim away the offending debris.
you feel 100 per cent, but you can
Likewise, at the 2003 World Cup,
go youve got to go. Id drunk
still feel pretty good afterwards.
Collins played through the quartertoo much water and the changing
A lot of people dont get that, though,
final with torn ribs the most painful
when you play like shit. They just see
of injuries and against France
rooms were too far away. The
play like shit and think you are
despite a seriously bashed-up knee.
politically correct dudes got upset, you
shit. Well, they need to see the guy
His room was littered with pills.
but its not as if I was pissing on
when he comes home to his wife and
But if he seems determined not to
be thwarted by the limitations of
someones head. Some cameraman kids, clutching his shoulder all night,
too drained to talk. And after a while it
the human body, his determination
probably just wanted a pay rise.
gets harder to do even the simple things
has perhaps been painfully
that other people take for granted.
reinforced by a poor run of luck.
Such hardness, a quality
The first bitter knockback came
that is more than physical, he seems to have inherited.
when a busted shoulder ruined his debut All Blacks test: it sidelined
His father David arrived in Porirua in the early 1980s,
him for the best part of the year. It was all the more devastating to
looking for work and a roof for his young family. Samoan clans
the keen recruit given that, in 1999, still a rising star playing NPC
would usually arrive piecemeal from the islands: one person
rugby for Wellington, hed broken a leg in two places, both bones.
would come to New Zealand, get himself established, then
Even today he cant straighten one of his legs on the floor and
bring his sister out. The sister would get herself established,
some say its a miracle he even made it to the international stage
then bring another family member out, and so on.
its the kind of injury from which some players never recover.
But though most of Galuias family were already in New Zealand,
All up he has endured five operations, including a childhood
David Collins was determined not to lean on anyones charity
mishap when his sister accidentally pushed him into a fence
and in the space of a week found a job as a machine operator in a
rail, sending it though the side of his mouth. His GP sewed
rubber factory and a state house in which to raise his family.
it up without anaesthetic and, perhaps under the spell of
At first they couldnt afford furniture, so for several months he
the macho mystique, I inquire whether he cried. Hard
slept on the floor while Galuia, Shaolin and Jerry slept on a borrowed
out! Collins exclaims. Did I cry? Of course I cried!
mattress. A single pot had to suffice for both cooking and boiling
Structural injuries are the major bastards, though,
water, and Jerry and his sister shared dinner from a single plate.
demanding a long, cautious rehabilitation that tests the guts
Recounts Jerry Collins: My mothers sisters would tell
and patience of any player. Yet Tali Lilo, who played and
me they thought Dad was crazy. How can you uplift your
coached alongside Collins in Porirua club rugby, recalls that
family to a place with no beds, no furniture, no curtains?
as soon as Collins was cleared to resume running after his
But Dad said that was why he went to work, that he would
broken pin, he pushed himself through the premier sides three
buy one thing at a time. And thats what we did.
kilometre training slogs, coming home second or third despite
Years later, rugby commentator Keith Quinn was on the
running with a limp. His mates, hard men themselves, were
board of the Carillon Club, a Wellington sports charity. Quinn
incredulous. Lilo: He made us sore just watching him.
remembers the trust receiving a letter from a 16-year-old Porirua
So when, in April this year, Jerry Collins neck was suddenly

72

NORTH & SOUTH JUNE 2007

GETTY IMAGES

Quay, its obvious hes deeply cherished by his community.

Ive met good people there, from the man who owns the dairy
to our local priest to our local electrician, he says. I can go to
my mothers Protestant church and get just as much love in that
church as I do in my own. I can walk down to the dairy in summer
in my sarong, sleep still in my eyes, to buy my bread and milk and
no one gives a toss because theyve seen me do that all my life.
That feeling never changes and thats what I like about it.

boy inquiring, rather humbly, if it could help him with a pair

of rugby boots. It always stuck in his mind, he says, because
most kids wanted money. The letter was from this kid called
Jerry Collins, and we got him what was probably his first pair
of boots. We had no idea he was going to be an All Black.
Even so, it was one of the few times Collins ever sought a
hand-up, and its not the only quality he shared strongly with
his remarkable father. For though Collins junior is renowned
for his rugby toughness, hes got nothing on a man still playing
hard-core club footie at 63 just one grade below his son.
An independent cookie, just like his son, David Collins
never goes to watch him play, even for the All Blacks. Never
has. Tells him its because Jerry is the only person who can
save himself out there and any distracting thoughts, like
whos watching him in the stands, wont help.Neither will he
allow himself to be photographed, even in family snaps.
Collins juniors peccadillos include an aversion to sunglasses, an
apparent dislike of heights (this he disputed with us, though he clearly
wasnt keen on sitting by the window at the top of his skyscraping
hotel) and a penchant for the old, beaten-up car he bought with pay
he earned as a teenager, when he worked as a bricklayer and furniture
remover in between school and starting a bachelor of education
degree (which, because of rugby, he never finished).The car still sits

A severely injured Collins crumples during the Hurricanes Super 14 match

against the Crusaders in April. The following day he was neck-braced and
smiling; two weeks later he was back training.

in his rusting carport, by the drunken clothesline, in Cannons Creek.

And iron work ethic ran on both sides of the family. Galuia
worked as a cleaner even as she battled cancer, and Collins sees that
kind of dedication to family as a cornerstone of his community.
Everyone expects because you play for the All Blacks youve
got to move upstate, he says. A lot of people ask me how come I
havent moved to Khandallah or Seatoun, because I can afford to,
and I go, I know I can afford to, but theres nothing wrong with
living here. I was brought up here and look how I turned out; it cant
be that bad. One day I might just decide to raise my kids here.
He did, however, move his parents upstate. When Collins
bought them a nice home in Whitby, which overlooks the
harbour north of Porirua, they gave him the old house and
currently hes building them a retirement house in Samoa. But
all that, he says, has nothing much to do with a nice fat All Blacks
retainer (Collins is estimated to collect $500,000 a year from All
Blacks and Super 14 commitments, $100,000 from provincial
rugby and another $50,000 from other endorsements).
I promised my mum I would buy her a house when I was 16, 17.
We were cruising around and I told her Id buy her a home in this
area one day and she said, OK, Ill hold you to that.
A promise is a promise. I would have bought them
that house even if I wasnt playing footie.

says Collins simply. Sometimes the delivery gets in the way of

the message and I had to learn that. Personal development has
o question, this year Jerry Collins, Poriruas first
been the biggest aspect of his career, he adds, because this was
All Black and a revered working-class hero, wants
nothing I ever thought Id be able to do, you know? But I always
to help New Zealand win the Rugby World Cup.
believe in trying and I enjoy that you get to prove people wrong.
But it comes at a difficult time in his life, for his
Yet when I suggest this one-of-a-kind All Black has turned out to
precious mothers cancer has come back with a vengeance.
be the quintessential self-made man, hes not prepared to buy it.
Galuia has always been the one who makes the scrapbooks and
No, Ive had a lot of help along the way, right from the
keeps a wall of pride at home papered with newspaper and magazine
first coach I had when I was nine. We all scrunched in
clippings and letters of congratulations to her high-flying son. All
the back seat of Jim Livingstones ute he was my Dads
his All Blacks gear he jams into a suitcase and gives to her at the
mechanic. Ive been lucky, helped by good people in my
end of each tour. He suspects she gives much of it to the minister at
area,and theres been that help all the along the way.
church, but if she kept it, every last sock, it wouldnt be a surprise.
Time and again it is clear his wideThe hard man puts on a brave face
open Porirua youth defines Collins, to
talking about it and says shes gone back to
Jerry Collins On...
the point where it is no surprise when
see out her days in Samoa. His father was
Spilling The Beans: If I wrote
he finishes a revealing interview by
flying out to join her that day. It was clear
suggesting he is prouder of what hes
to us that Collins, a senior player now, was
a book, it would be a feeldone for Porirua rugby than anything
torn between staying in camp with the All
good book because out of 200
hes achieved asa famous All Black.
Blacks and heading to the airport himself
Indeed, even as a raw 18-year but, always the worker, he didnt so
to 300 guys, Ive probably only
old hed set an unusual record as the
much as let on to his rugby bosses that he
played with two arseholes in my worlds youngest senior club captain.
might need a bit of compassionate leave.
Porirua sport then was down on its
Collins growing stature a man
whole career. Whats the point
luck. Once a league stronghold, the
with brawn, balls and brains was
of writing a book about two
districts clubs had shrivelled and
rewarded with a cameo captaincy in
dickheads? The other thing is,
folded under financial pressure, a prime
Argentina last year when regular skipper
reason hed veered from league to
Richie McCaw was given a breather. The
when people write books they
union a few years earlier. Now, though,
scratchy 25-19 win in slippery conditions
forget the people they write about the same was happening to rugby.
was adequate, but Collins elevation is
As a young man with ambition,
mostly remembered for his casually
have wives and children. I dont
his life-shaping decision to stick with
uttering fuck on live television in the
know how you sleep at night
Poriruas Northern United could have
immediate post-match interview.
been career suicide. Being a Catholic
It seems only to have reinforced his
writing bad things about them
boy, Collins could easily have gone
independent style: he did the same on
just to make a bit of money.
to play for Marist, but Northern
stage at a Wellington Sports Awards
was coming last in the premier
evening (Of course the audience roared
competition, struggling even to field
with laughter, reports MC Keith Quinn).
enough players let alone to win. His loyalty lay with Porirua.
Yet this is the same man who, reports Wayne Smith, has
Today the club is one of the regions strongest, with five players in
learned to speak remarkably eloquently in team meetings,
the Wellington team, a bucketload coming through the academies and
to the point where everybody listens when Jerry speaks.
a flash home stadium. And Jerry Collins is a world-class rugby god. Its
Whats more, he has helped lead the way, says Smith, in
the only Wellington club, he notes proudly, that has a team in every
building the current, successful, All Blacks culture.
single grade, from juniors to premiers, and he started that resurgence
When Collins debuted in 2001, the All Blacks were a comparatively
by dragging in former schoolmates to help rebuild the flagship team.
reticent band of men, perhaps still recovering from the brutal
He delights in telling more parables of how players used to come
shocks of the 1999 World Cup and previous coaching regimes.
along in his first year expecting for us to have tracksuits, have
Says Smith, We were at a stage where a lot of guys were
this, have that, before wed even won anything. Thats the biggest
saying what you wanted to hear, to get by, but even though
downfall in low-income areas, but its changing. We changed
he was new in the squad Jerry wasnt prepared to do that.
that mentality. People get this block in their heads that there
Its something Ive always loved about him right or wrong
arent the resources in places like Porirua, that the opportunities
hes going to be his own man and do things his way.
arent here, but if you build the mentality, you can do it.
The tell-it-like-it-is philosophy was promulgated by Tana
Hes speaking about himself, of course, and hes not leaving
Umaga, the 2004-05 All Blacks skipper who happens to
anytime soon. And its been hard, he briefly concedes. For instance,
be a cousin of Collins. Umaga, says Smith, grew not only
I went out with a girl who used to work in the city, in a good job, and
Collins but the likes of McCaw and Aaron Mauger.
living out here just wasnt her thing. Cant please everyone, eh?
To be sure, Collins career has not been without its stains.
Beyond keeping Porirua strong, surprisingly or should we
The flanker regrets blowing a gasket in a Wellington bar in 2001
not be surprised by now? Collins says he has no major career
while still reeling from his injury-ruined first chance in the All
aspirations or goals in rugby. I dont need to be the leading man. I
Blacks. He punched club rugby acquaintance Kahu Tamatea,
dont want to be the star, just a great support player who gets chucked
and the same night shoved over-the-top fan Sonny Shaw (a man
in to do the hard work. Ill be happy knowing people respected me
known for pestering sports stars), which led to threats of assault
for being a good servant. For being hard. Not dirty but hard.
charges and stern counselling from All Blacks management.
We arent about to argue. 
n
Aspects of my own life and behaviour werent acceptable,
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