Rugby
Jerry Collins and his wife die in car crash in France─── 09:38 Fri, 05 Jun 2015
France. - Former All Black Jerry Collins and his wife Alana Madill have died in a car crash in France.
The accident happened on a stretch of highway in the Herault department in southern France. It is believed two others, understood to be Portuguese, were injured in the crash involving a bus.
Collins’s three-month-old daughter has been airlifted to hospital in a critical condition.
According to French media reports, the accident happened near a motorway toll booth west of Béziers. Local paper Midi Libre reported that Collins’s car had come to a halt across a motorway lane due to a technical fault.
It said that just after 4:30am a bus from Portugal, with about 20 passengers on board, hit Collins’s car at full speed, sending it hurtling 10 metres forward into the central security barrier.
A New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson confirmed the news that Collins and Madill had been killed, saying: “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has been advised of a serious vehicle accident in France in which All Black rugby player Jerry Collins was killed.”
Collins, 34, had most recently been playing for Racing Club Narbonne in the French second division, but played 47 Tests for the All Blacks between 2001 and 2007, as well as 85 matches for the Hurricanes and 47 for Wellington.
He announced his international retirement in 2008 and subsequently joined French Top 14 side Toulon before moving to Wales to play for Ospreys.
The Samoa-born back-rower went on to spend two years in Japan playing for Yamaha Jubilo before joining Narbonne in January.
Collins is a cousin of former All Blacks captain and Hurricanes teammate Tana Umaga.
The official Twitter channel of the All Blacks posted their condolences, with many from the rugby fraternity also paying tribute. - The Gaurdian
