Character is said to be how you treat people who can’t do anything for you in return.
And so to Jerry Collins during his time as a rugby player in Wales. A fascinating story has emerged from US Eagles wing Ryan Matyas, whom Collins befriended after a chance meeting at Tondu rugby club, for whom the American was playing as a youngster. The pair became mates, meeting up on Wednesdays and Sundays to hang out together, off day days for the pair.
And the American abroad bore witness to the famed generosity of the 48-cap All Black who had started his working career as a binman in Wellington. “One time we were leaving a restaurant and there was a homeless guy on the ground with no shoes and Jerry literally takes off his shirt, takes off his socks, takes off his shoes, takes off his beanie, opens up his wallet, hands him a wad of cash and his jacket and everything,” said Matyas in a new RugbyPass documentary, Where Eagles Dream.
“I’d never seen that before. I’d seen someone give a homeless person five bucks, I’d seen someone buy someone a meal, but not literally the shirt off their back.”
The act was in keeping with the personality of a man who once declined the offer of a swish apartment and gleaming new car when he arrived at the Ospreys because such things ‘were not him’. Instead, the late, great back- rower resided in a more humble place and drove around in an old Nissan, complete with fags strewn over the back seat. You can r ead more here about how the Ospreys paid tribute to him.
Even those who knew him well would sometimes be taken aback by his actions. “He was unpredictable to the point where no-one knew what he was going to do,” the ex-Wales international and Ospreys prop Paul James once told WalesOnline.
“There’s loads of stories about him. One of them concerned the way he used to rock up on Saturdays or Sundays at random places. He’d have a look at a map of Wales and say to the taxi driver: ‘Take me there’.
“On this particular day he turned up at some place in the Valleys and asked the barman if could he watch TV. The reply came that the TV was in the corner, but it was a tiny one. JC then supposedly went across to the local Tesco, bought a 50-inch one and took it back to the pub, saying to the barman: ‘Plug that one in, mate’. “He then watched what he wanted to watch and left the TV there."
A complete one-off was Jerry Collins. An iron man on the field, a gentleman off it.
Those who met him will never forget him. US Eagles wing Matyas certainly won't.
