A group of All Blacks players paid a powerful tribute to their former team-mate Jerry Collins, performing the haka near to the scene of the crash that killed him and his wife, Alana Madill, and left their baby daughter critically ill.
The couple’s car was involved in a collision with a bus near the French town of Béziers on 5 June, with both adults pronounced dead at the scene. Three-month-old Ayla was airlifted to hospital, and remains in a critical condition.
One of Collins’s former All Blacks colleagues, Neemia Tialata, posted a video online of the group – which included Carl Hayman, Ali Williams, Chris Masoe and Byron Kelleher – performing the haka by the side of the road.
Saying goodbye 2the brother and his partner the way we were all brought together #AllBlackFamily #RIPJC #RIPALANA pic.twitter.com/axR597CVPO
— Neemia Tialata (@NeemiaTialata) June 11, 2015
A campaign in New Zealand to raise funds for Ayla has so far raised over $30,000.
Collins was one of New Zealand’s toughest and most uncompromising forwards. He was part of the New Zealand Under-19 team who won the World Junior Championship in 1999, and began his provincial career the same year, going on to play 47 games for Wellington.
A cousin of the former All Blacks captain Tana Umaga, he made his All Blacks debut against Argentina aged 20 in June 2001, and went on to play 48 Tests for New Zealand, three as captain. His last Test was the World Cup quarter-final against France at Cardiff in October 2007 when the All Blacks, favourites to win the tournament, suffered a shock defeat.
He announced his international retirement in 2008 and subsequently joined the French Top 14 side Toulon before moving to Wales to play for Ospreys. The Samoa-born back-row spent two years in Japan playing for Yamaha Jubilo before joining Narbonne, in the French second division, in January.
