News

Wellington in top Gear

September 30 2008

Wellington winger Hosea Gear has attributed his try-scoring efforts - all eleven of them - to his Lions team-mates ahead of the side's Round Ten and final league clash of the Air New Zealand Cup.

The men from the New Zealand capital face-off against tournament strugglers Otago on Saturday - a match that can see them go unbeaten in this year's tournament.

Whilst it has been an outstanding team effort from last year's losing finalists, Gear's contribution cannot go unnoticed.

Gear is the runaway leader at the top of the Air New Zealand Cup try-scoring ladder with eleven tries to his name. Manawatu's Lote Raikabula is his nearest challenger with six with one round to go before the play-offs.

The 24-year-old wing has scored in seven of the nine matches the Lions have played so far, including hat-tricks against Counties Manukau and Bay of Plenty.

But a modest Gear insists team work and a gameplan which has produced good counter-attacking rugby have all contributed to his success this season.

"Most of my tries have come from our forwards getting good go-forward ball and I'm finding myself out wide with a little bit of space," Gear told Sportal.

"I think our gameplan has a lot to do with that. We're playing differently than we have in the past."

Gear also believes the Experimental Law Variations (ELVs) have worked in Wellington's favour too as most teams have opted to kick more but haven't necessarily employed a good chasing game, leaving himself and full-back Cory Jane the chance to attack from deep.

"If the chase isn't that good then there are more opportunities to counter-attack," said Gear.

"The game's heaps faster now as well so you can sometimes catch people out."

Wellington certainly has not been caught out this season.

The Ranfurly Shield has been safely tucked away for the summer after the Lions overcame a gritty Tasman side 26-20 at Westpac Stadium over the weekend.

"It definitely makes us look at ourselves a bit more," said Gear.

"Credit to Tasman they played really well in that first half and they caught us on the back foot.

"We were quite lucky. We managed to regroup at half-time and talk over our gameplan and we stuck to that in the second half."

The Lions have also guaranteed themselves top spot and home advantage going into the quarter-finals, even before the trip to Dunedin to take on Otago this Saturday.

But Gear is aware that the southerners remain a potential banana skin to Wellington hopes of a ten-match unbeaten run, despite Otago's poor run of form this year.

"We still want to build a bit of momentum leading in to the quarter-finals but Otago are never easy at the House of Pain," he said.

"They've got a lot of firepower in their loosies and out wide on the wing.

"That's something we've got to be aware of."