All Blacks: Wales just can't get into Gear

Wales have every right to ask: if Hosea Gear is that good on one leg, how good could he be on two? They might also be asking if there is another Gear brother of whom they should be aware.

For the second time in three Grand Slam tours, a Gear made Millennium Stadium his personal playground.

In 2005, it was older brother Rico making merry as he crossed for a hat-trick in a 41-3 thrashing. Yesterday it was Hosea with the decisive hand in a match won 37-25, but which was not put away until the final 10 minutes.

Indeed, with Daniel Braid, on for the injured Kieran Read (medial ligament damage), sent to the sin bin in the 51st minute and Stephen Jones narrowing New Zealand's lead to 13-12 with the resultant penalty, a 57-year curse looked on the cusp of being reversed.

But New Zealand used their numerical disadvantage to great effect, with Gear scoring his second try in the corner after a sweeping counterattack.

It could have been a completely different story. In the first minute of the match Gear simultaneously conceded three points and rolled his ankle while attempting to charge down a Stephen Jones kick. He hobbled into the room for his post-match media duties and would not have been any threat to Tony Manero on the tiles last night.

"It happened in the first 30 seconds and I wasn't ready to come off so I had to block that out and get through the game."

A try, set up by Isaia Toeava who damaged a medial ligament in the process, would have gone some way to easing Gear's pain.

"Once I got a bit of strapping tape on I was able to run it out."

Gear admitted he thought he was gone as soon as he rolled the ankle and so did another man stalking the sidelines. Ma'a Nonu got the call to take the field, but was stopped at the last second. When Toeava was obviously struggling, Nonu did actually take the field before being told quick-smart to get off.

"Hosea went down so I got the call to get up and warm-up," Nonu said of his first-half shenanigans. "He was down for a while and then he went to the sideline and I thought 'Oh, yeah, I'm on here, left wing.'

"He was sweet, so I jumped back off. Then Ice [Toeava] got injured when he set up that try so I thought, 'Yeah, I'm on the right wing this time.' I got told [by kit man Errol Collins] to get on the field so I ran on. I was on for about 10 seconds and then I got kicked off.

"I got on three times tonight," he laughed, blaming the touch judges for the mistake.

When Nonu finally made a proper, legal appearance, on for a subdued Sonny Bill Williams in the 49th minute, he made it count. He immediately began making inroads with the sort of strong, direct running that had been missing from his game against Ireland.