Arthur Harold Collins, fullback for the All Blacks (1932,1934) and for Taranaki (1927-1937), was born in Stratford, New Zealand on July 19, 1906. Weighing in at just 73kg, and only 1.70m in height, Collins made a name for himself playing club rugby for Stratford and Clifton, and in 1927 was selected for the Taranaki Rugby Football team. He went on to make 81 appearances for Taranaki over the next eleven years, building a reputation as "a reliable last line of defence and an accurate goalkicker".”[1] First international Australia 3 - 22 New Zealand (15 August 1903) Largest win New Zealand 145 - 17 Japan (4 June 1995) Worst defeat Australia 28 - 7 New Zealand (28 August 1999) World Cup Appearances 5 (First in 1987) Best result Champions, 1987 The All Blacks are New Zealands national rugby... View of Mount Taranaki or Mount Egmont from Stratford, facing west. ... Stratford is the main town of the central Taranaki region, aptly named as the Stratford District. Situated directly inland from Mount Taranaki, Stratford is a rural service centre with a 2001 population of 5225. ... A BCRFC match at Boston College Rugby football, often just referred to as rugby, refers to sports descended from a common form of football developed at Rugby School in England. ...

By 1932 Collins had caught the attention of the national selectors, making the North Island side for the North vs South match. He was selected for the All Black team to tour Australia, first donning the All Black jersey on 15 June in a preparation game against Wellington. Collins missed selection for the first test match, which was lost 21-17, but took over for the second in Brisbane on 16 July in which he contributed a penalty goal to New Zealand's 21-3 victory. He went onto play the third test match in Sydney which New Zealand also won. His overall tour performance was considered "creditable", scoring 54 points in his nine matches and kicking a penalty and two conversions in his two tests.[2] North Island The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, the other being the South Island. ... For other uses, see Wellington (disambiguation). ... Brisbane (pronounced ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, as well as the third largest city in Australia, with a greater metropolitan population of just under two million. ... The Sydney Opera House on Sydney Harbour Sydney (pronounced ) is the most populous city in Australia, with a metropolitan area population of over 4. ...

No test matches were played in 1933, and Collins was again selected in 1934 for the tour to Australia. He played the first test in Sydney where the All Blacks were beaten 25-11. Collins could not play the second test due to injury, but played in the All Blacks vs "Rest of New Zealand" match when the team returned from Australia. This was his last game in the All Black jersey, having in thosetwo years played 15 matches and scored 110 points.

Collins retired from representative rugby football in 1937, and went on to serve as a coach and an administrator for Clifton Club, being honoured with life membership in 1970. A son, Bruce, played seven matches for Taranaki as a forward in 1962-63. Collins died on January 11, 1988, in Waitara. The name of Waitara is in the New Zealand Maori language and the settlements in Australia were named from the township of Waitara, New Zealand. ...

Bibliogaphy

Chester, R.H. & McMillan N.A.C. (1994). Men in Black (2nd ed.). Moa Beckett Publishers Ltd, Auckland.

References

• allblacks.com profile: Arthur Collins