14 - Hosea Gear
The real question here isn't: why should Hosea Gear be in the All Blacks?
It's: what were Ma and Pa Gear thinking when they named their bouncing baby boys?
When Maori boys are born in Poverty Bay, they tend to have names like Wiremu or Warren, Hone or Harold. You would have had long odds on a family producing anything as exotic as Rico - the elder brother, who was a decent All Black winger between 2004 and 2007 - and Hosea.
Seriously, Rico and Hosea. They sound like Colombian drug dealers, or Hispanic Los Angeles cops.
I haven't yet read anything explaining why the Gear boys got their fancy handles. The Baby Name Facts website lists seven "celebrities" with the Rico name - and five of them are baseballers. There is only one Hosea, another baseballer.
Anyway, the most famous Hosea in New Zealand is one of my World Cup wings. He's more of a leftie, but I slot him on the right as my other pick is also better on the left.
Gear is the incumbent. He played well on the end-of-season tour in 2010, after having only a couple of opportunities in the previous two years.
The All Black coaches took some convincing that his try-scoring ability was backed by a solid all-round game. But I think the questions have been answered. Gear is big and strong and quick and has a nose for the tryline.
In other words, he's a winger. And a very good one.
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