Four-month-old Ayla Collins was rushed to hospital in Montpellier in a critical condition after the crash last night NZT time. Photo / Instagram
Four-month-old Ayla Collins was rushed to hospital in Montpellier in a critical condition after the crash last night NZT time. Photo / Instagram
The health of Jerry Collins' baby girl is improving as she fights for her life in hospital following the French car crash that killed her mother and father.
Four-month-old Ayla Collins was rushed to hospital in Montpellier in a critical condition after the crash last night NZT time.
Former All Black loose forward, Collins, 34, died instantly when the car and a bus collided on a motorway near Beziers in the Languedoc region of southern France.
His partner Alana Madill was also killed.Collins' long-standing manager Tim Castle spoke to the media this afternoon on behalf of his family.
The infant had shown signs of improvement, he said. "Ayla's care and recovery is central is all our endeavours at this time," Castle said.
"The news today is that her condition has improved a little, which is wonderful for the family.
"She remains nevertheless in a very serious condition, and the circumstances are being monitored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, by the rugby club, and others we have on the ground down there hour-by-hour.
"Our hopes are of course that she will recover. "Two former All-Blacks, who are currently based in France, and their wives were travelling to Montpellier on behalf of the family, he said.
Neemia Tialata and his wife Sally, and Chris Masoe and his wife Jenny were either already in Montpellier, or making their way there, Castle said, "to be with Jerry and to be with little Ayla".
Arrangements were being made to bring Collins and his wife - as well as baby Ayla - back to New Zealand, Castle said.
"I'm in regular communication with Alana's mother and father. We've shared our reflections and memories," he said.
"They would not mind me saying that, just as Jerry's family is so devastated, they are likewise, deeply traumatised by these events.
"They too, like Jerry's family and all of us, are focussing on the continuing care for little Ayla, and our prayers and hopes are for her recovery at this time."
The details of Ayla's injuries were being kept confidential at this time, Castle said. "She is under very strict and very close care.
"I'm aware of some details, but they are confidential at this time." It had not yet been discussed who would raise her, he said.
"Those details are a long way away from being worked though."
Some of Collins' family, including his mother and two sisters, were in Samoa yesterday for a close family friend's wedding when the news of his death emerged, Castle said.
However, they are all flying back to Wellington in the next 24 hours to be together, he said.
Four-month-old Ayla Collins was rushed to hospital in Montpellier in a critical condition after the crash last night NZT time. Photo / Instagram
"The arrangements going forward for Jerry's return to New Zealand and for such funeral arrangements as the family wish to make are very tentative and very unspecific at this time," Castle said.
"We will give you updates just as soon as those arrangements are finalised."
Paying tribute to Collins, he said: "Jerry was a legend, not just here, in the great game, the great oval ball game.
"He was much loved all over the world, and the tributes are flowing ... throughout the world by so many people who played with or against Jerry.
"There are fans from the Liberty Stadium, where Jerry played for Ospreys, who will be standing to salute him just as the Hurricanes and the Highlanders did last night.
"Whenever Jerry ran on to the park for Ospreys there was the great chant of 'Jerry' from the crowd. He was an idol there as he was here."
He later added: "I've looked after Jerry for a long time, and he is a friend, and like everybody this is a very difficult time [for me]."
Castle said he was "not confident" that all the correct details about what caused the crash had been released.
"I'm not confident that the full information has been released and nor can I verify its accuracy, but the best course I'm adopting is to await the formal French investigation to be completed,", he said, adding that it was a formal inquiry, and a full report would be made.
He did not know where the family was travelling to or from at that time in the morning, he said.
