by Our Sports Desk

Jerry Collins was being remembered as the epitome of a rugby player and an All Black yesterday as tributes poured in following the death of the former New Zealand forward.

Collins and his wife Alana Madill died in a car accident near the town of Beziers in southern France in the early hours of Friday morning. The couple’s baby daughter Ayla was also left in a critical condition after the collision with a bus.

The popular 34-year-old — revered as one the sport’s true hardmen — played 48 times for the All Blacks in a seven-year international career that spanned the 2003 and 2007 World Cups.

Former All Blacks skipper Sean Fitzpatrick first encountered Collins when the Samoa-born back row was a teenager and having managed him at under-21 level, he came to know a man whose relentless ferocity as a player was offset by the warmth and compassion he displayed away from the pitch.

“Jerry was a man in a boy’s body at that age and epitomised everything a rugby player and All Blacks should be. He will be remembered fondly,” Fitzpatrick said.

“He became an All Black at a very young age (20) and went on to wear the jersey with pride. He was as tough as old boots on the field but a loving man and very caring off the field.

“He was the nicest guy you would meet, but not someone you’d want to play against. We say good men make great All Blacks and he was a very, very good man.”

A player described by former England scrum-half Matt Dawson as the “Jonah Lomu of the forwards” retired from international rugby after New Zealand’s quarter-final exit from the 2007 World Cup.

In one of the great rugby stories, he took the field alongside star-struck amateur teammates in a match for Barnstaple’s development XV after spending the aftermath of France 2007 with friends in north Devon.

The following month he wore a pair of red Barnstaple socks when playing for the Barbarians against South Africa at Twickenham.