EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS TOULON will host a friendly match with a difference on Wednesday evening as some of the game’s greatest names take to the pitch again.
The French club will play the Classic All Blacks in a tribute match for the late, great Jerry Collins who lost his life so tragically in June.
The former All Black, who spent one season at Toulon, died, along with his wife Alana, following a road traffic accident in France.
The couple’s young daughter, Ayla, survived but is receiving ongoing medical treatment in the care of family in Canada.
Many of Collins’ former All Black team-mates will pull on the jersey again during what it sure to be an emotional evening.
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Ali Williams, Andrew Hore, Brad Thorn, Carl Hayman, Carlos Spencer and Justin Marshall are just some of the luminaries set to take on the Top 14 giants.
They will perform the Haka before kick-off at the Stade Mayol.
Last month, Ospreys – another of Collins’ former clubs, paid tribute to the 34-year-old during their first Pro12 home game of the season.
All proceeds from Wednesday’s game will go to the Jerry Collins Memorial Fund with the action getting underway at 6pm Irish time.
Typical Beckham soaking up the limelight and giving us tears, Scholes gets subbed last week in his final game after a greater career and just jogs off, no fuss
I like Beckham as much as the next fella but this is way OTT!
It shows how popular he is and how well he is respected by his peers. He won leagues wherever he went, no coincidence. A great professional.
In fairness, while not the most gifted player, he made the most of what he had both on and off the field. Not the first footballer to use his image well, but brought the marketing of footballers and their clubs to a whole new level. Football is a business whether we like it or not, ad this guy is good for business.
Send off a bit OTT, but he helped pave the way for making his teammates a lot of money from endorsements, put more emphasis on Ligue 1 and PSG. Crowd appreciate that too.
I hear he says he is still available for England if they need him , in his high pitched voice “I can never retire from England I love my country “