Rico Levi Gear (NEW ZEALAND 2004-05-06-07 : 20gs – 19 Tests)
Rico Gear #1043
 Rico Gear, a leading three quarter of the 2000s, especially at Super 12/14 level, was one of New Zealand rugby’s most widely travelled players, at least around his own country.
A product of Gisborne, where his promise and considerable pace were first revealed in the strong first XVs fielded by the local boys high school, Gear made the national under 19s before making his representative debut for Poverty Bay in 1997. Thereafter Gear appeared for six more representative teams: Auckland 1998-99, Bay of Plenty (as a loan player from Auckland 2000), North Harbour (2001-04), Nelson Bays (2005), Tasman (2006) and finally amid some controversy Canterbury (2007). He played for those seven different unions 65 provincial games. While wing proved to be the position where his speed and flair were best suited he was also an above average centre. As a youngster Gear also received grooming in Gordon Tietjens� national sevens squad. He was in the side which won a gold medal at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur. He was a national representative, too, for the Colts and Maori, appearing in the famous win over the British Lions at Hamilton in 2005, and in 2000, despite having played that season in the NPC second division, on a New Zealand A tour of Europe. Gear first appeared in the Super 12 in 1999 with the Blues and in 2000 and 2001 had stints with the Crusaders, before being with the Blues in 2002-04. But at the Blues he was always competing for regular game time against the likes of Doug Howlett and Joe Rokocoko. It was when he returned to the Crusaders that the best was finally seen of him at this level and in 2005 he scored a record 15 tries. He was in the sides which won the Super 12 title in 2005 and the first Super 14 in 2006. Gear made the All Blacks for the first time in 2004 when he played in the international against the Pacific Islands. The much debated rotation selection policy was very much in force while Gear was an All Black and he shared places in particular with Howlett, Rokocoko and Sitiveni Sivivatu. Eventually Gear was the unlucky one from this group who missed the cut for the 2007 World Cup. The disappointment probably led to Gear quitting New Zealand rugby for an overseas contract at the end of the 2007 season, by which time he had exceeded 100 tries in first class matches. His record and try-scoring strike rate in his time in the All Black had been impressive. In 19 tests between 2004 and 2007 he scored 11 tries, including three against Wales at Cardiff in late 2005 and two against Scotland at Edinburgh on the same tour. Those were his only appearances on that �Grand Slam� tour, Howlett and Sivivatu playing the internationals against England and Ireland. Gear�s younger brother, Hosea, was also a splendid wing and prolific tryscorer who played for the New Zealand Colts, Maori and sevens sides, as did Rico. The brothers owed their distinctive first names to some distant Spanish ancestry which was much cherished by their father. They played together at representative level briefly for North Harbour, before Rico moved to the Crusaders in 2004 and Hosea moved to Wellington and the Hurricanes. Profile by Lindsay Knight |
| FULL NAME | Rico Levi Gear |
| BORN | Sunday, 26 February 1978 in Gisborne, New Zealand |
| AGE | 44 |
| PHYSICAL | 1.79m, 92kg |
| POSITION | Wing |
| LAST SCHOOL | Gisborne Boys’ High |
| RUGBY CLUB (First made All Blacks from) |
Helensville |
| PROVINCES | North Harbour, Nelson Bays |
| SUPER RUGBY TEAM | Crusaders |
| NICKNAME | Sneaks |
| ALL BLACK DEBUT | Saturday, 10 July 2004 v Pacific Islanders at Albany aged 26 years, 135 days |
| INTERNATIONAL DEBUT | Saturday, 10 July 2004 v Pacific Islanders at Albany aged 26 years, 135 days |
| LAST TEST | Saturday, 30 June 2007 v Australia at Melbourne aged 29 years, 124 days |
| ALL BLACK TESTS | 19 (3 as a substitute) 19 |
| ALL BLACK GAMES | 1 1 |
| TOTAL ALL BLACK MATCHES | 20 (3 as a substitute) 20 |
| STARTING POSITIONS | Jersey Number 14 : 16
Jersey Number 21 : 1 Jersey Number 22 : 2 |
| ALL BLACK TEST POINTS | 55pts (11t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m) |
| ALL BLACK GAME POINTS | 10pts (2t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m) |
| TOTAL ALL BLACK POINTS | 65pts (13t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m) |
| ALL BLACK NUMBER | 1043 |
ALL BLACK GAMES THAT GEAR PLAYED(+) = substitute; (-) = replaced |
| Click on the date below to view the Match Card |
2004 |
| 10 Jul vs Pacific Islanders at Albany 41-26 |
| 13 Nov vs Italy at Rome 59-10 (-) |
| 4 Dec vs Barbarians at London 47-19 |
2005 |
| 25 Jun vs British & Irish Lions at Christchurch 21-3 (+) |
| 2 Jul vs British & Irish Lions at Wellington 48-18 |
| 9 Jul vs British & Irish Lions at Auckland 38-19 |
| 6 Aug vs South Africa at Cape Town 16-22 |
| 13 Aug vs Australia at Sydney 30-13 |
| 27 Aug vs South Africa at Dunedin 31-27 |
| 5 Nov vs Wales at Cardiff 41-3 (-) |
| 26 Nov vs Scotland at Edinburgh 29-10 |
2006 |
| 24 Jun vs Argentina at Buenos Aires 25-19 |
| 8 Jul vs Australia at Christchurch 32-12 |
| 29 Jul vs Australia at Brisbane 13-9 |
| 26 Aug vs South Africa at Pretoria 45-26 |
| 2 Sep vs South Africa at Rustenberg 20-21 (+) |
| 5 Nov vs England at London 41-20 (-) |
| 25 Nov vs Wales at Cardiff 45-10 |
2007 |
| 16 Jun vs Canada at Hamilton 64-13 (+) |
| 30 Jun vs Australia at Melbourne 15-20 |
POINTS SCORED FOR THE ALL BLACKS |
t | c | p | dg | pts |
| vs Pacific Islanders, 10 Jul 2004 | 1 | – | – | – | 5 |
| vs Barbarians, 4 Dec 2004 | 2 | – | – | – | 10 |
| vs British & Irish Lions, 9 Jul 2005 | 1 | – | – | – | 5 |
| vs South Africa, 6 Aug 2005 | 1 | – | – | – | 5 |
| vs Wales, 5 Nov 2005 | 3 | – | – | – | 15 |
| vs Scotland, 26 Nov 2005 | 2 | – | – | – | 10 |
| vs South Africa, 26 Aug 2006 | 1 | – | – | – | 5 |
| vs Canada, 16 Jun 2007 | 1 | – | – | – | 5 |
| vs Australia, 30 Jun 2007 | 1 | – | – | – | 5 |
| Totals | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 65 |
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TEST RECORD BY NATION |
P | W | D | L | t | c | p | dg | pts |
| Argentina | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Australia | 4 | 3 | – | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | 5 |
| British & Irish Lions | 3 | 3 | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | 5 |
| Canada | 1 | 1 | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | 5 |
| England | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Italy | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Pacific Islanders | 1 | 1 | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | 5 |
| Scotland | 1 | 1 | – | – | 2 | – | – | – | 10 |
| South Africa | 4 | 2 | – | 2 | 2 | – | – | – | 10 |
| Wales | 2 | 2 | – | – | 3 | – | – | – | 15 |
| Totals | 19 | 16 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 55 |