Gear crisscrossed country in search of launch pad

Rico Gear could not guarantee a place in the Blues set-up but has fast established himself as the No 1 choice at the Crusaders this season. Picture / Fotopress

Those in the small crowd at Eden Park last September will not forget North Harbour's late victory strike in the cross-city NPC derby.

Rico Gear used his swerve to hold Auckland fullback Mils Muliaina away in a thrilling duel between two very talented backs.

The pair were destined to go on the All Blacks' end of year tour to Europe and it was easy to picture them as a dangerous part of the Blues arsenal for the Super 12.

A little over a month later and the image became fictional when Gear announced he was quitting rugby in the Blues franchise and heading south.

The dangerous outside back was not prepared to take his chances with the Blues again. The wanderlust which had taken the 27-year-old from Poverty Bay to Auckland, Bay of Plenty and North Harbour had him on the road again to Nelson Bays en route to a 2005 enrolment with the Crusaders.

It was, Gear claimed, the best path to the All Blacks.

After deciding he could not deal with the insecurity at the Blues, Gear weighed up a shift to Waikato before deciding on the move south.

"I'm looking at the next World Cup ... I've been in the Blues for a while but I've only really played because of injuries," he said.

"I still need to develop my game and Canterbury (sic) have about the best development system around and are in contention every year."

It was a decent slap in the mush for the Blues and Gear repeated that insult last weekend when he was part of the 41-19 Crusaders' whipping of the Blues. One try and a heavy involvement throughout the match underlined the Blues' loss and the Crusaders' gain.

Gear admitted he was a little tense before the game, it had felt strange playing in a different jersey on a familiar ground.

Quizzed on whether he would have stayed with the Blues had he been guaranteed a starting place, Gear switched into his diplomatic mood. This was no time to gloat, no time for regrets, no time for any recriminations.

"I had three seasons with many of the same Blues players and they had so much talent and depth in the backline," he said.

"I think cementing a spot in the Blues was much harder than anywhere else in the country. I was also looking longterm and a few of the Harbour things had something to do with that too."

Gear made his test debut last season but was stymied by Joe Rokocoko and Doug Howlett for a regular berth. Last Saturday he easily outpointed the Blues duo.

They were hampered by a lack of decent ball but still made too many fundamental mistakes and were down on workrate.

Crusaders coach Robbie Deans labelled Gear as a "real pro", a player who was keen to learn and had worked especially hard on his skills.

"But the key thing what Rico has got is people inside to serve him really well," Deans added. "He is aware of that and knows if he works hard to position himself for the counter, if he works hard on his lines and gets good width, he will get opportunities from the setpiece launch as well."

Gear had also sharpened his defence to match his outstanding attack and in Deans' opinion was the "complete winger really".

Gear said both the Crusaders and Blues had occupied a large part of the Super 12 history and the difference between them was really the experience of the core players.

"The Crusaders seem to be able to switch on when they need to without going overboard," he said.

"I think the Blues can get a bit uptight and put a bit of pressure on themselves. They have the talent but they are still a young side whereas the Crusaders have a lot of experience."