30 Seconds with Jerry Collins

Naas Isaacs interviewed All Black hard-man Jerry Collins for the Sunday Times. The story was published on 24 June 2007.

“Are you fully recovered from your recent neck injury?

Yes, I have played about six or seven games now, so it is pretty much back to normal. It’s as good as it can be.

Do you feel strange about your lack of game time at this stage of the season, and is it going to be rectified, given the selectors’ rotation policy?

I have played the last few games. I missed the French match through injury, but otherwise I would have played the last three games. I’m pretty happy with the game time I’m getting.

Most players say you are the hardest tackler in the game. Who has hit you the hardest ?

I can’t remember. I have been hit by so many people. Maybe Sam Tuitupou. Size can play games with you because it’s the small guys, the ones you don’t think will hit you hard, who are dangerous. Sometime the big guys do not hit you as hard as the small guys.

Is there a Springbok with whom you get on really well?

Yeah, AJ Venter. We get on very well. But most of the SA players are good company. I think of guys like Bryan Habana and Victor Matfield. It is difficult to single out one person because they are all good hosts, so it depends what city you’re in. If I had to single out one it would be AJ because he has been around longer and knows where to go.

Schalk Burger seems fearless on the field. What’s the best way to nullify his influence?

I’m not sure. We play against so many guys you can’t really focus on one. Pierre Spies and Juan Smith are also good footballers. But I think if your pack plays well collectively it is simpler to nullify special individuals like Schalk.

Is it true that after the Northern and Southern Hemisphere Tsunami game two years ago you sat in the shower with a lit cigarette?

No, it’s not true.

Did any of your reconditioning include your old runs as a dustman in Wellington?

It is hard to do that now because in New Zealand there are occupational safety hazards. The rules have changed since I started running. You have to wear special clothing and have a licence, so it is different now.

Did Neemia Tialata ever catch up with you as the guy with the best guns (biceps) in the All Black team?

Never ! He has been trying for the last four years. But really, to be honest, I think he has surpassed me. It is said that muscles look bigger on short people but you see them more prominently on bigger players. The light also helps sometimes.

Who’d win a fight between Joe Rokocoko and Sitiveni Sivivatu?

They’re both poofters! What kind of fight? Maybe Joe. But both of them are mellow guys. Fijians are generally mellow.

Silliest thing you’ve done while drunk?

A few years ago I went out and when I got back I couldn’t get back into the hotel. So I climbed up a drainpipe. I think it was in Wales. My room was on the fourth floor and when I got to the first floor the drainpipe snapped. Luckily I landed in some cardboard boxes. The silly part was that after I made a noise and woke everyone up, my roommate told me the back door was open.”

Read the original story here.