A lowly English rugby reserves team got more than they bargained for when they found themselves facing an All Blacks giant during a club match.

Jerry Collins, aka "Terminator", lined up for Barnstaple's second-string side against Newton Abbot last weekend, scoring a try in his Devon team's 21-7 victory.

Collins played an hour and joined his new team-mates in the pub for a few pints after the match.

Barnstaple coach Kevin Squire's signing of the century came about when he spotted Collins on holiday in England's west country following New Zealand's World Cup quarter-final exit at the hands of France last month.

"There were registration issues if we picked him for the first team so we put him in the seconds, told him the bus left at 11.45 and that all he had to bring was some boots," Squire told the Daily Express.

"He was brilliant, very humble.

"He tackled, but fortunately not with the power he's famous for."

Newton Abbot flanker Andrew Breeze even lined up Collins for a tackle.

"I thought, 'this is your chance to put one of the best flankers in the world on his arse,"' Breeze told The Guardian.

"He stepped to his left, stepped to his right and was gone. They scored a try from that."

Squire hopes to secure Collins for more matches as the New Zealand international keeps fit ahead of the Barbarians' clash with South Africa at Twickenham next month.

AAP