Collins: NZ retirement

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Hurricanes loose forward Jerry Collins has called time on his playing career in New Zealand.

The 27-year-old has been given an early release from his New Zealand Rugby Union contract and will take a break from the game before considering his future.

"It's something that I have thought about for a while," said Collins.

"I have played 10 years for the one province and it's a pretty hard place to leave but I've decided that's it's probably the right time for me to bow out now."

Collins revealed that there were no overseas offers on the table at the moment and said his immediate priority, after playing for the Barbarians against England this weekend, was to return to New Zealand and look at his options.

Respect

"I'm not in any rush to get out the country," he said. "With me, I'd like to think that what you saw is what you got. I always tried to put as much as I could into every match.

"I wanted to leave at the right time and after thinking about things over the past week, and then getting through Saturday night's match, that time is now.

"I wanted to do it the right way with respect to the Hurricanes, the New Zealand Rugby Union and the Wellington Rugby Union.

"You can't negotiate while you're still contracted so at the moment the cupboard is pretty bare but I'm sure there's someone out there who will give me a job for a couple of weeks."

Collins' decision brings to an end a New Zealand Test career that began against Argentina in Christchurch in 2001 and ended in disappointment with last year's World Cup quarter-final loss to France in Cardiff.

He played 48 Test matches, including three as captain.