The calibre of players competing for places in the New Zealand back line is well documented, but it is still hard to believe that Rico Gear’s international career has had just eight caps so far. His Test debut came just over a year ago, against the Pacific Islanders in July 2004.

Although the wing is 27 years old, which in this enlightened age — when good enough is old enough — makes him seem positively mature, time is on his side. Certainly he has been carefully nurtured in the Super 12 system, and it is within this that he found the form to supplant Doug Howlett, the lightning quick Aucklander of the same age who has already made 48 international appearances for New Zealand.

Although Howlett was part of the All Blacks side that beat the Lions comfortably in the first international on June 25, he was forced to make way for Gear in the second, as Graham Henry put his money where his mouth was, after rating him the best New Zealand wing in the Super 12. His 15 tries for Canterbury Crusaders helped them to the Super 12 title and equalled the individual record for tries in a season, held by Joe Roff. He was not only top-scorer by some distance, the next best having a mere ten, but his six pairs of tries were a record for a New Zealand player in the Super 12. One would expect a player chosen in the All Blacks’ squad not only to have a nose for the line, but also to be creative with it, and his inventive chips ahead featured in the Crusaders’ last match of the season, against New South Wales Waratahs, when he setup the first try of the match for Scott Hamilton.

Those who toured with the Lions, both players and supporters, may well wince to see Gear on the wing this autumn, for it was he to whom Will Greenwood passed for the All Black to score the last try of the series in July, inflicting the final blow of that ill-fated trip.

Gear took a five-week break after the Tri-Nations, having been rested for the final match against South Africa with a knee medial strain, and admitting to feeling jaded after a busy international campaign. Although he returned to action for Nelsons Bay, his club side, a week earlier than the All Black selectors had advised, the decision seems to have done him no harm in their eyes.

Amassing more caps will not be much easier for Gear, now that Joe Rokocoko, who with Howlett set rugby fields alight a couple of seasons ago, has returned to the squad. But Gear was integral to the All Blacks team that won this year’s Tri Nations, and there is little difference in weight or stature between them, so that with Tests against all the home nations, he is as likely as any of the others to feature, however stiff the competition.