A brace of Kiwis find warmth in Ospreys' nest

LAWRENCE SMITH

CATCHING UP: Filo Tiatia, left, and Jerry Collins, third from left, chat with All Blacks Jerome Kaino and Rodney So'oialo after a training session at Llandarcy Park, the Ospreys' training ground, earlier this week.

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Jerry Collins strikes a calm and contented figure in his sleepy corner of Wales.

A few minutes earlier the former All Blacks hard man had cleared the cafe at Llandarcy Park, the Ospreys' training ground in Neath.

"Hey, if you aren't here to eat get out," he barked from his place in the food queue. "If you want to watch the All Blacks train, get outside."

The stunned crowd of students quietly vacated their first-floor vantage point and filed down the stairs and out into the Welsh rain. Collins' wry smile revealed the cheeky humour that was never far from the surface during his New Zealand rugby career.

"I like it here," he said as he sipped coffee, humoured the sports centre's receptionist and picked at his styrofoam cup. "It's nice and quiet."

This wasn't the time for a dictaphone or an inquisition. Collins had clearly steered himself away from the team that used to be the centre of his being. He'd catch up with his mates later, after the media and the cameras were gone. There'd been enough of that stuff at Toulon for a lifetime.

But it was impossible to escape the calmness of Collins on his 29th birthday as he shot the breeze from afar, laughing about his time in Wellington, and shaking his head at Northern United's failure to win the Jubilee Cup final against Marist St Pat's.

A bad knee was still coming right and the rules of the game weren't what they were during his early career with Wellington and the Hurricanes.

"We used to launch our attacks from 60 metres out and Cully [Christian Cullen] would be gone," he said. "Now you have to be in the opposition's 22 or you just end up giving away a penalty."

He cheekily suggests we might not have seen the last of him in the Super 14. "South Africa, maybe" – and he's only half joking.

For now, though, there's no doubt Collins is content. Perhaps its being close to his child, who lives across the Severn estuary in north Devon.

Or perhaps it's the way the Welsh have embraced a player who was heralded as the Swansea-based Ospreys' biggest signing when he arrived from France in September.

The team's Australian coach, Scott Johnson, describes Collins as "exemplary" and a "quality player and person on and off the field".

If Collins has found a warm embrace in the Welsh valleys, he might owe much of it to his former Wellington team-mate Filo Tiatia. Now 38, Tiatia has lost none of his passion for the game and is still a regular starter for the club.

But it's in his role as a coach and mentor that the two-test All Black has made his mark in the side.

"He came to us after Japan by reputation more than anything, but he's exceeded his reputation," Johnson explained.

"He brings, one, rugby ability, but two, intellectual property. Filo is going to be a super coach at the highest level."

In fact, Ospreys value their player/coach so much they have re-signed him for three years.

"He was a good coach from the moment he arrived here, but he is now starting to be able to express that knowledge in a coaching manner," Johnson said.

"Often it's the transfer from coaching into playing that's the difficult part, but he's exceeding that.

"Every time he comes on the pitch as a player he contributes because he has an aura about him and it's the same in his coaching. We will have difficulty replacing him when he goes because you can't coach that."

Johnson has heard all the talk about Ospreys' All Blacks trio of Tiatia, Collins and Marty Holah. Surprisingly they have never actually made the field together, the latter being out with a hamstring injury in recent weeks. But Johnson believes the real story is what the three former internationals have contributed off the field.

"We got bonus on personality, that's what we got. I wasn't here for those two [signing Tiatia and Holah], but based on personality alone we did exceptionally well.

"Too often players come up north for a superannuation or pension scheme but these guys have been the exact opposite. I can't say enough about them."

Like Collins, Tiatia is clearly enjoying life. With four daughters, Italia, 9, Matisse, 7, and twins Gianna and Emina, 18 months, he and wife Sally have settled in like locals since arriving in 2006.

Stitches in his left nostril show that on the field he's lost little of the venom that made him a feared opponent in New Zealand and the nose is currently a YouTube hit – "Tiatia's head vs Nikki Walker's face" – after a clash against Glasgow last weekend.

"I've still got the fire in the belly, but realistically I'm 38, I'll be 39 next year and you have to give it up sometime, so my time is coming up," Tiatia said of a playing career that has taken in 80 games for Wellington, 56 matches for the Hurricanes and four years with Toyota in Japan.

He's developed a folklore following of sorts for his hard play and there is a Filo Tiatia Appreciation Club on Facebook.

"I've got another three years here. It's a really nice feel in Swansea. There are some nice beaches here, but we just need some sun to go with it," he laughs.

Tiatia will complete Wales' level four coaching course next year and admits he's not sure exactly where his ambitions in the field lie. For now he's just focusing on getting through a long season that includes the Magners League, the Heineken Cup and the Anglo-Welsh Cup.

He lined up at lock against Northampton in midweek with Collins at blindside at the club's home ground, Liberty Stadium, where about 7000 loyal fans usually show up to matches.

As the rain turns to hail and drives the All Blacks off the Ospreys' training ground, it's easy to wonder how New Zealand players survive a northern winter. They've gone from the comforts of the All Blacks to the grind of endless training sessions and a gruelling playing schedule in Europe. But if Tiatia and Collins are anything to go by, there is plenty of warmth, even in the chilly valleys of Wales.