Gear still watching on despite Canterbury shift
NZPA
August 3, 2007

Winger-of-the-moment Rico Gear attended his first Canterbury rugby training run today but will remain an Air NZ Cup rugby observer this weekend.

Ongoing conjecture about where Gear would see out his New Zealand career was resolved late last night, when Tasman announced they were loaning the reluctant winger to Canterbury.

Gear failed to win selection in the team to play Counties Manukau on Sunday but the 29-year-old has achieved his desired goal of switching provinces three months out from his departure for England.

It brings to an end a rocky three-year contract which saw Gear play for Nelson Bays and Tasman just six times.

He played three games for Nelson Bays when he transferred there from North Harbour in 2005 -- as a back-door route into the Crusaders Super franchise -- and another three last year for Tasman in the merged union's inaugural season.

Gear has always stated his preference to stay in Christchurch, where his young family are based.

His wishes were finally granted yesterday by disappointed Tasman chief executive Lee Germon.

"Rico has made it clear that he does not wish to play for Tasman this season," Germon said.

"As a union, we value our Makos jersey highly and all of our players wear it with a great deal of pride."

Last year Gear commuted twice a week between Christchurch and Nelson for training and matches.

He said a settled family life in Christchurch was an important factor in his desire to play for Canterbury.

He, wife Taina and three-year-old son Whaimauri Hosea will move to England in December to begin a three-year contract with Worcester.

"It definitely makes it a lot easier," he said.

"I've been away from home a fair bit already this year but Rugby Park (Canterbury's training base) is just around the corner from our house, so that's definitely preferable to travelling up to Tasman and back."

Since his son was born on May 4, Gear has been required to travel overseas or be in camp with the Crusaders, Junior All Blacks and All Blacks.

Gear said he thanked officials at Tasman for the playing opportunity with them and Nelson Bays, and also their acceptance of his reasons for wanting to play for Canterbury and support in agreeing to the loan.

The loan continues an association between the Crusaders franchise unions.

Earlier this year Crusaders No 8 Peter Nixon and winger Caleb Ralph transferred to the Makos, while hooker Steve Fualau and prop Ben Franks have been more recent additions to the Tasman squad on short term loan deals.

A world-class finisher, Gear recently missed selection for the All Blacks' World Cup squad.

His 20th and final game for the All Blacks was the loss to Australia at Melbourne in June, where he scored his 13th try.

While Gear hasn't made the cut this week, Canterbury have introduced three new faces to their starting 15 for Sunday's match at Mt Smart Stadium.

A ll Blacks World Cup halfback Andrew Ellis replaces Kevin Senio, while lock Isaac Ross and prop Campbell Johnstone come in for Michael Paterson and Greg Somerville respectively.

Paterson (shoulder) and Somerville (eye) have both not recovered from injuries they sustained in last weekend's opening win over Bay of Plenty, with Paterson expected to be on the sidelines for three weeks.

Another name missing from the match 22 against Bay of Plenty is loose forward Reuben Thorne, who has been stood down to rest a niggling calf complaint that has troubled him since the Tri-Nations.

"It's an injury that really needs a bit of time to settle down, so we felt that it was in the best interests of both the player, and the team, if Reuben missed this week," Canterbury coach Rob Penney said.

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