George Bower (rugby union)
George Gadai Bower (born May 28, 1992) is a New Zealand rugby union player. He began his rugby in Wellington playing for Avalon rugby club, following that he made his first-ever representative team playing for Wellington U20s in 2011. His usual position is prop. He currently plays for Crusaders and Otago.
| Full name | George Gadai Bower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 28 May 1992 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Wellington, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 183 cm (6 ft 0 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 115 kg (254 lb; 18 st 2 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Taita College | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Rugby career
In 2014, Bower moved to Dunedin to play for the Harbour Hawks RFC and then played one game for Otago's National Provincial Championship team that year as an injury replacement. Nicknamed the "Fijian Bulldozer", "Humble Horse" and "The Fijian Prince" by fans, Bower was once an extra in an advertisement for the All Blacks.
Bower did not make an appearance for Otago until 2018 when he was called in as injury cover. He played aseven more games for Otago in 2018.
In 2019, he was named in the Crusaders' pre-season and made his debut in round 4. In November 2019, he was named in the 2020 Crusaders' squad.[1]
In October 2020, the All Blacks' coach, Ian Foster, named Bower as a wider squad member of the All Blacks team to Australia. In 2021, he was again named in the wider squad for the Steinlager Series against Fiji and Tonga.[2] He made his international debut for the All Blacks on 3 July 2021 against Tonga at Auckland.[3]
Reference list
- "The Team | Players, Stats and Information". Crusaders. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
- Van Royen, Robert (28 June 2019). "Super Rugby: George Bower's rise from makeshift barber to Crusaders prop". Stuff. Retrieved 30 June 2022. - "All Blacks squad named for Steinlager Series". All Blacks. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
- Raine, Tom (4 July 2021). "'Dream' debut caps off Bower's journey from body double to All Black". Rugby Pass. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
- Reive, Christopher (4 July 2021). "All Blacks rookie George Bower reflects on emotional debut in win over Tonga". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 30 June 2022.