Former All Black Jerry Collins and his wife Alana have died in a car crash in southern France.
French media is reporting the couple’s three month old daughter Ayla has been taken to hospital in Montpellier in a serious condition.
Collins’ father and other members of his family are currently in Samoa.
His manager Tim Castle says they are distraught, and have asked for privacy.
He says Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials are doing everything they can to ensure the couple’s daughter, Ayla, is getting all the care and support she needs.
Reports say it appears Collins had stopped his car on the road, when a bus from Portugal crashed into it.
The car was thrown about ten metres against the central barrier, and Collins and his wife died at the scene.
Two people on the bus have minor injuries. Jerry Collins played 48 test matches for the All Blacks between 2001 and 2008, captaining the side in a one-off test again Argentina in 2006.
He was born in Apia, Samoa and grew up in Wellington, where he played for the St Patrick’s 1st XV and made the New Zealand Secondary Schools team.
The hard-hitting number six debuted for Wellington in the NPC in 1999 and the Hurricanes in Super Rugby in 2001.
Collins went on to play in France, Wales and Japan.
He had recently returned to rugby with French side Racing Club Narbonne.
More details are emerging about the crash which claimed the lives of Jerry Collins and his wife.
The former All Black had been attending a testimonial banquet in Canet-en-Roussillon for Samoan rugby player Henry Tuilagi, who plays for Perpignan.
He had been driving home along the A9 motorway in direction of Beziers.
Emergency workers say Collins stopped his car by the side of the road, which they think was for ‘technical reasons’.
Collins was then attempting to pull back into the traffic when his car was hit by a bus with 21 people on board.
Collins’ car was apparently thrown about 10 metres.
Collins and his wife died instantly.
The two bus drivers then freed the baby girl from the car.
