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'Dream' debut caps off Bower's journey from body double to All Black
George Bower’s inspirational story of hard work and perseverance reached a pinnacle on Saturday evening, as the 29-year-old Crusaders prop came on as a second half replacement to make his full All Blacks debut against Tonga.
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A relative ‘late bloomer’ compared to other members of Ian Foster’s squad for this Steinlager Series (the average age being 26), Bower has shown a fantastic level of dedication over the last few years, to reach last night what he described as a “dream come true”.
Bower, born in Wellington and of Fijian decent, moved to Dunedin in 2014 to pursue a career in teaching and to plug an injury crisis for Dunedin club side Harbour Hawks. Between giving haircuts in his flats and starring in photoshoots for the All Blacks as a ‘body double’, Bower picked up some game time for Otago, before in 2019 getting a call to go and train with the Crusaders.
Despite making his Crusaders debut in 2019, Bower wasn’t properly named as a member of the squad until last year. Following a solid season, in which he made thirteen appearances for the Christchurch-based franchise, 2020 saw Bower called into the All Blacks squad for the first time as injury cover. Unfortunately, he was unable to gain his first cap whilst in Australia with the side.
On Saturday night however, Bower was able to go one better, capping off a remarkable few years and making his full All Blacks debut in a convincing 102-0 victory.
Bower, speaking after the match, was conscious of his journey into professional rugby starting a bit later than others in the side.
“I’m 29 now so I guess I have aged a bit before getting into footy,” Bower said. “When I did make it with the Crusaders, for me, I [wanted to be] just like everyone else – a sponge, learning as much as you can.”
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Certainly, in Christchurch there was no shortage of quality to learn from.
“In my first year there, there were the likes of Owen Franks, Tim Perry, Joe Moody, even Michael Alaalatoa – all world-class props, so I took as much as I could from them and kind of just honed in and tried to add to my game, add to my strengths. It’s definitely a reason why I’m here today.”
Bower can now count himself among that distinguished group of test-level front rowers. Even still, the transition from All Blacks training squad to match-day 23 undeniably took a further effort on the young man’s part. Armed with the guidance and experiences of the camp in 2020 however, he had plenty to learn from and work on heading into 2021.
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“After getting called in last year at the end-of-year tour, they got me to put on a bit of weight,” remarked Bower. “It also gave me a bit of motivation to work hard this year and really put the work in throughout the Super Rugby season, so I could become an option to represent the All Blacks. I guess I just stuck to reaching my goals. My family were all watching it together at home and they were lost for words.”
Head coach Ian Foster was also happy with Bower’s efforts, praising the enthusiasm showed by the debutant. With his first test now under his belt, Bower will no doubt be keen to add to his tally as the All Blacks prepare to face Fiji on 10th July.
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Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments