Gear to bring wealth of knowledge to Colts
RICO Gear left a steady stream of hapless defenders around the world red-faced over the course of his career as a try-scoring machine in Super Rugby and for the All Blacks.
He was also one of the biggest stars of European rugby when he carved up defences during a two-year stint with English premier side Worcester.
Now he’s bringing a lifetime of knowledge as a player and coach to Bond University as the Bull Sharks’ Colts coaching coordinator and coach of the Colts 1 side.
Gear’s passion is developing young players. He spent the past two years coaching schoolboy rugby in New Zealand.
“We’ve got quite a good young group of footballers and we want to promote players as best we can to higher honours and work towards first grade and representative teams,” Gear said.
“If we look at New Zealand rugby from a schoolboy point of view it is extremely strong and that is reflected in the under 20s program over there.
“There’s a lot of X factor, a lot of unstructured attacking play, and if I compare it to the way the Aussie boys play there’s probably too much structure. I think finding the balance between both is going to be a focus for us.”
Gear will also work closely with first grade head coach Grant Anderson to prepare the next generation of Queensland Premier Rugby players.
Bond’s director of sport Mike Collins has locked horns with Gear numerous times on fields in New Zealand and Europe.
Collins, a veteran of 81 Super Rugby games for the Chiefs and stints with London Irish and Glasgow Warriors, said he was thrilled to be now on the same side as his old adversary.