Rico Levi Gear (born 26 February 1978) is a former New Zealand

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

player. He was a specialist

right wing Right-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this pos ...

but also covered midfield positions. He is the older brother of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

winger

Hosea Gear Hosea Emiliano Gear (born 16 March 1984) is a former New Zealand rugby union player who played as a wing. He has also played 14 international matches for New Zealand. Early life The younger brother of Rico Gear, he was born in Gisborne, New Z ...

Club career

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 the Gisborne East Coast under 13

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

team. He also studied anthropology at

Massey University Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural o ...

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 Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaw ...

, North Harbour and Nelson Bays. He made his

Super 12 Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

debut for the

Auckland Blues The Blues (known as the Auckland Blues from 1996 to 2000) is a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Auckland, who play in the Super Rugby competition. Like New Zealand's four other Super Rugby teams, the Blues were established by ...

in 1999 against the

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union club competitions ...

. He also had a stint with the Highlanders, however his career really ignited when he went to the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

at the end of the 2004 season. Gear played every game in the 2005 season, for the

, 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 the

2006 Super 14 season The 2006 Super 14 season started on 10 February 2006. The Grand Final was held on 27 May 2006. Super 14 is a provincial rugby union competition with 14 teams from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. This season was the first of the expansion ...

. Gear has a younger brother

who played wing for the Chiefs. In June 2007 Gear was signed by

Guinness Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

side

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union club, based in Worcester, England, that is currently in administration and which has been suspended and will be relegated from Premiership Rugby, the top division of domestic ...

. Gear was regarded as one of the most dangerous and clinical wingers in world rugby and carved up defenses in the

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 at Sixways until 2010. Gear started his Warriors career with four tries in a match on his full debut – equalling the competition record – as Warriors punished

Gran Parma Amatori Parma Rugby is a historical Italian rugby union team founded in 1971. History From Amatori to Gran Ducato Gran Parma Rugby was founded in 1999 following the merger of ''Amatori Parma Rugby'' and ''Rugby Noceto''. From 1999 to 2002 they ...

and he continued to rack up the tries. He scored one of the most memorable individual tries ever seen at

Sixways Stadium Sixways Stadium is a stadium in Worcester, England. It is currently used for rugby union and association football matches and is the home stadium of Premier 15s side University of Worcester Warriors and football side Worcester Raiders. Prio ...

with his solo stunner against Bucuresti and also scored a breathtaking one-handed effort against Harlequins at

The Stoop Twickenham Stoop Stadium (informally referred to as The Stoop) is a sports stadium located in south-west London, England. The stadium is home to Harlequins rugby union team, who play in the Gallagher Premiership. The stadium has a capacity ...

. Despite being hit by a number of injuries towards the end of the campaign, Gear still finished the season with a staggering record of 12 tries in only 19 appearances for the club and vowing he would show his real form in the 2008/09 term. After

got relegated after the 2009–2010 season, he signed with Japanese

Top League Japan Rugby League One (formerly the Top League) is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by absorbing the ...

team

Kintetsu Liners Hanazono Kintetsu Liners rugby team are a Japanese rugby union team owned by Kintetsu Corporation which was founded in 1929. They have won the All-Japan Championship three times as an amateur team. Their home is at Hanazono Rugby Stadium in ...

in April 2010.

International career

Gear made his international debut on 10 July 2004 in a match against the

Pacific Islanders Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of Oce ...

, where he also scored a try. He went on to play in numerous matches against the

British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

in their 2005 tour of New Zealand. He scored his first All Blacks hat-trick against Wales at the Millennium Stadium in 2005. He also played in the

2006 Tri Nations 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

. 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 the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 198 ...

in the 2007 season, Gear was omitted from the Rugby World Cup squad, announced on 22 July 2007.

Doug Howlett Douglas Charles Howlett (born 21 September 1978) is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player. He was primarily a wing, but he also sometimes played as a fullback. He played for Auckland, and the Highlanders, Hurricanes and Blues ...

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.

Post rugby career

When he was recruited for season 2 of ''Match Fit'' as the youngest and fittest recruit, but has battled asthma all his life. He had lived in

Gold Coast, Australia The Gold Coast is a coastal city in the state of Queensland, Australia, approximately south-southeast of the centre of the state capital Brisbane. With a population over 600,000, the Gold Coast is the sixth-largest city in Australia, the ...

as a schoolboy coach, and married with Australian wife, Rebecca Miles, who was a professional basketball player, and 2 children, Isaiah and Ava. The family returned to New Zealand to live in late 2021. On episode 3, Rico, as the only other fluent Maori speaker, was forced into lead the Classic All Blacks to reply in traditional Powhiri as Glenn Osbourne and

Piri Weepu Piri Awahou Tihou Weepu (born 7 September 1983) is a retired New Zealand rugby union player. Weepu played most recently for Wairarapa Bush in the Heartland Championship. Generally Weepu played as a half-back but also played at first five-eig ...

, along with non-speaker

Daniel Braid Daniel John Braid (born 23 February 1981) is a former rugby union player from New Zealand who captained Sale Sharks in the English Premiership. He played at open-side flanker. Previously, he played for the Blues in Super Rugby. He also won six ...

, failed to return in time as pig and deer hunters.

Club career

International career

Post rugby career

References

External links