| Born | Rico Levi Gear (1978-02-26)26 February 1978 (age 47) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Height | 179 cm (5 ft 10 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 92 kg (14 st 7 lb; 203 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Gisborne Boys' High School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Notable relative | Hosea Gear (brother) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rico Levi Gear (born 26 February 1978) is a former New Zealandrugby union player. He was a specialistright wing but also covered midfield positions.
He is the older brother ofNew Zealand wingerHosea Gear
Gear was educated at Gisborne Boys' High. As a young man Gear also played for the Tolaga Bay rugby union club just outside Gisborne. In 1990 Gear played for theGisborne East Coast under 13rugby league team.[1] He also studied anthropology atMassey University with an emphasis on Māoridom and Māori language for two years.
Gear made his provincial debut in 1997, playing for Poverty Bay against King Country. He has since played for provincial sides;Auckland,Bay of Plenty,North Harbour and Nelson Bays.
He made hisSuper 12 debut for theAuckland Blues in 1999 against theQueensland Reds. He also had a stint with theHighlanders, however his career really ignited when he went to theCrusaders at the end of the 2004 season.
Gear played every game in the 2005 season, for theCrusaders, and he scored 15 times for the 2005 champions. He was also named Rebel Sport Super 12 player of the Year and the Tom French Memorial Māori Player of the Year.
He was first choice right wing for the Crusaders in the2006 Super 14 season. Gear has a younger brotherHosea Gear who played wing for the Chiefs.
In June 2007 Gear was signed byGuinness Premiership sideWorcester Warriors. Gear was regarded as one of the most dangerous and clinical wingers in world rugby and carved up defenses in theGuinness Premiership during the 2008/09 campaign.
He became one of the biggest signings in the club's long history after agreeing a three-year deal that kept him atSixways until 2010.
Gear started his Warriors career with four tries in a match on his full debut – equalling the competition record – as Warriors punishedGran Parma and he continued to rack up the tries.
He scored one of the most memorable individual tries ever seen atSixways Stadium with his solo stunner againstBucuresti and also scored a breathtaking one-handed effort againstHarlequins atThe Stoop.
Despite being hit by a number of injuries towards the end of the campaign, Gear still finished the season with a staggering record of12 tries in only 19 appearances for the club and vowing he would show his real form in the 2008/09 term. AfterWorcester Warriors got relegated after the 2009–2010 season, he signed with JapaneseTop League teamKintetsu Liners in April 2010.
Gear made his international debut on 10 July 2004 in a match against thePacific Islanders, where he also scored a try. He went on to play in numerous matches against theBritish & Irish Lions in their2005 tour of New Zealand. He scored his first All Blacks hat-trick against Wales at the Millennium Stadium in 2005. He also played in the2006 Tri Nations.
He won a Commonwealth Games gold medal when he was part of the New Zealand Sevens side and also has World Cup Sevens medals.
In spite of appearances in theAll Blacks in the 2007 season, Gear was omitted from the Rugby World Cup squad, announced on 22 July 2007.Doug Howlett was selected in his place.
In all he scored 11 tries in 19 tests for the All Blacks including a hat trick against Wales at Cardiff and two against Scotland on the same tour.
When he was recruited for season 2 ofMatch Fit as the youngest and fittest recruit, but has battled asthma all his life. He had lived inGold Coast, Australia as a schoolboy coach, and married with Australian wife, Rebecca Miles, who was a professional basketball player, and 2 children, Isaiah and Ava.[2] The family still reside on the Gold Coast in 2023.[3][4] On episode 3, Rico, as the only other fluent Maori speaker, was forced into lead the Classic All Blacks to reply in traditionalPowhiri asGlenn Osbourne andPiri Weepu, along with non-speakerDaniel Braid, failed to return in time as pig and deer hunters.[2]
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| Preceded by | Tom French Memorial Māori rugby union player of the year 2005 | Succeeded by Carl Hayman |
