Rico Gear has promised to stay at Sixways for the duration of his contract despite a frustrating first year.

The Worcester wing was the club’s highest profile signing when he moved from Super 14 outfit Crusaders in November 2007 and signed a lucrative three-year deal.

He impressed on his debut with four tries against Bucuresti Oaks, but niggling injuries and the form of Marcel Garvey and Miles Benjamin prevented him making the impact he would have liked on the Guinness Premiership.

That situation has continued this season as even with Garvey and Benjamin out, the former All Black has struggled to feature due to hamstring and groin problems.

But he is back to fitness and – after consecutive cancellations – ready to remind the Romanians how potent a player he can be when they visit on Saturday for the penultimate European Challenge Cup pool match.

Gear will hope to use the game as a springboard for the remainder of the campaign and – crucially for Worcester – next term too.

“I enjoy playing here,” Gear said. “If we are not performing well it doesn’t mean I have to go and find a team that is. That’s not my style. I will go where I think there is potential and the environment is good.The environment is the main thing. There are a couple of clubs with successful teams but the balance with the environment is not good. Here things are good outside rugby, we have just got to nail it down on the field. When you have come so far from home you have to look at the whole package. It’s not fair to keep dragging them from place to place – especially if you are reasonably happy.

“I am happy to stay here for my contract at least, I am in no rush to go.”

That will be good news to director of rugby Mike Ruddock who with Garvey out until at least the middle of next month and Benjamin recovering from a broken leg, needs one of his star players to be operating at full throttle.

For his part Ruddock is concerned Worcester will have to play their re-scheduled match with Harlequins in midweek.

One or both are likely to be involved in European competition beyond the next fortnight then the prospect of losing several key performers to England might dissuade the Londoners from agreeing to a Saturday match.

“We are not fans of midweek rugby,” Ruddock said. “Asking players to go out and play three times in a week is counter-productive to their own welfare but I sense there could be a reluctance from teams to commit to playing on a Saturday when their EPS players are not available.

“But you would have to rotate your front-line squad anyway if you are going to play three matches so there’s not much difference.”