Play nzherald.co.nz's rugby Pick the Score competition - go to: pickthescore.nzherald.co.nz
KEY POINTS:
He can laugh about it now but Justin Collins' extraordinary Super rugby career had an inauspicious start.
For someone who has fought back from serious shoulder, Achilles and heart problems, the reward of making it to a milestone of 100 Super rugby matches gives a real clue about
Justin Collins' dedication, skill and mental durability.
But that honour, which Collins will achieve in Cape Town on Sunday against the Stormers, looked a little shaky when he was starting his professional rugby career more than a decade ago.
That journey began with the Chiefs in 1998 and a pre-season trip to Fiji. Collins did not endear himself to his teammates or fellow passengers when the trip home had to be held for about an hour because he and a mate thought they had plenty of pre-flight time to go shopping in Nadi.
The pair endured some uncomplimentary stares and comments from passengers and teammates but for anyone who knows Collins, that lapse in attention to detail was a rare event in his career.
Ask around, from club to provincial to representative level, and the references and comments about Collins carry a consistent theme. No player could bring more honesty, hard work or grit to his trade than the 34-year-old flanker.
His training regimes are legendary, his time trials an example to all those who are a great deal younger. If he was in injury recovery mode and asked to do exercise sets four times a day, Collins would double that demand. Gus, as he is known, is old-school, an iron-man trainer with a mentality to suit.
He understands how to deal with pain. From the time he clipped a finger with a circular saw to the time he had to stay in Invercargill for a few extra days when an injection, intended to dull the pain before a provincial game, went astray and punctured his lung.
"If you went to war, Gus would be the first man you would pick to have beside you," longtime Northland buddy David Holwell recalled.
Collins was a late starter in rugby at secondary school but his competitive streak soon shone through when he changed codes. His skills and fitness too and he was soon an automatic pick in Northland age-group sides before donning the cambridge blue.
Since then he has travelled the circuit with Northland, Auckland, the Chiefs, the Blues and New Zealand A without ever quite cracking the national black jersey.
That was always his aim, always his focus but Collins was also tempted to join the Wallabies when they discovered he had been born in Tasmania. He resisted and chucked everything into making an All Black side but was just pipped in that ambition.
After a year with the Chiefs, the dramas of redrawn boundaries, drafts and selection meetings, Collins has continued his career with the Blues where his combined tally will reach the magical Super three figures this weekend.
"To tell you the truth I am rather surprised," Collins said from Cape Town. "Relieved and surprised."
"It (rugby career) has taken its toll, it gets harder to get up each morning and I am not sure if that is my body or my age."
Collins would not single out any favourite games in his career though he picked the 2003 season when the Blues won the series and the last two years as being the most enjoyable.
That sustained pleasure convinced him to go round once more this year and to sign for a final crack with Northland and then contemplate a couple of seasons of club rugby.
"I've had to work extra-hard to keep going," Collins admitted. "I was naturally fit but the joints seize up more each year."
His shoulder injury had been the most serious impediment to his career and even after surgery, it had never been quite the same. That is not something you would say about Collins. He has always put the team demands ahead of his own ambition, he always has time for others, is always competitive, always a helluva good bloke.
