New Zealand star Rico Gear has agreed a three-year deal at Sixways – and at wrfc.co.uk we have all the stats on our latest Warrior!
RICO GEAR – STAT ATTACK:
Full name: Rico Levi Gear
Born: 26 February 1978 in Gisborne
Age: 29
Height: 1.79m / 5ft 11in
Weight: 92kg / 14st 6lbs
Position: Wing
Province: Tasman
Province Caps: 55 (3 Tasman, 2 Nelson Bays, 24 North Harbour, 10 Bay of Plenty, 5 Auckland, 10 Povery Bay)
Provincial Debut: 1997 v King Country for Poverty Bay
Super 14 Teams: Blues, Crusaders, Highlanders
Super 14 Caps: 79
Super 14 Points: 200 (40 tries)
Super 14 Debut: 1999 v Reds for Blues
All Blacks Debut: Saturday, July 10, 2004 vs Pacific Islanders at Albany
All Blacks Caps: 18
All Blacks Points: 50 (ten tries)
NZRU ANNUAL AWARDS
Richard Crawshaw Memorial Trophy for Sevens Player of the Year, 1998
Rebel Sport Super 12 Player of the Year, 2005
Tom French Cup for Maori Player of the Year, 2005
REPRESENTATIVE HONOURS
New Zealand Representative Teams
New Zealand Under 19 in 1997
New Zealand Under 21 in 1998, 1999
New Zealand Sevens in 1998, 1999, 2001
New Zealand A in 2000
New Zealand Maori in 2002, 2003, 2005
New Zealand Barbarians in 2003
All Blacks in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
- Scored his first All Blacks hat-trick in 2005, against Wales at Cardiff
- Has represented New Zealand Sevens at nine International Sevens tournaments and won a gold medal at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.
- Scored two tries for eventual runners-up Nelson Bays in the 2005 Air New Zealand NPC Division Two final
- Led, by a comfortable margin, all New Zealand players with 25 first-class tries in 2005
- Played for New Zealand Maori against the British & Irish Lions in 2005 – one of the few players to face the Lions four times
- In the All Blacks final match of 2004, he became just the third All Black to score two tries in a match against the Barbarians
- Inaugural winner of the Richard Crawshaw Trophy for Sevens Player of the Year in 1998
