Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - BONUS: All Black George Bower on Pressure, Acting, and Jono and Ben's Chances as ABs...

Episode Date: September 2, 2022

George Bower joins us - he talks about dealing with the pressure, the emotion of becoming an All Black, and whether or not Jono and Ben have a chance to get on the team.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to a bonus podcast from Jono and Ben on The Hits. Chance to win on Saturday night of the All Blacks. And a good chance to win. Let's support the boys. Absolutely. And we're joined by starting prop George Bauer. Morning. Oh, hey, hey, Jono and Ben. Yeah, very good. Thank you. Very good. Hey, is this your phone number? We've got your phone number now. I don't think you're that ill. I'm pretty sure this might be a media person's phone number. George, I'm definitely going to be texting you from now until the end. No, no, this is definitely a media person's phone number. George, I'm definitely going to be texting you from now until the end.

No, no, this is definitely a media person's number. What are we saying? Can we get tickets to the game? Can we text this number to see how this works? How are you, George? You all right, mate? Yeah, no, very good. Thanks.

Yeah, very good. It's been an awesome week up here in the Trons. So obviously this Saturday night, are you guys looking forward to the game? I mean, after a game last week where unfortunately you guys don't win, are you ready to kind of put things right? Is that the kind of attitude in the camp? Yeah, yeah, definitely. We've realised what we need to kind of fix,

and it's little things that kind of let the Argentinians play their game. But no, we're looking forward to this weekend and rewriting our wrongs and getting stuck into our work. Awesome. How much pressure is there playing in the All Blacks? Because I'm just watching on the sidelines here as a low-level radio host, but it feels like the country just really piles on the pressure. Does that get to you?

Do you try and ignore it, block it out? Yeah, I guess the past couple of weeks seems from the outside in that there's a lot of pressure on us, but we've got a good mental coach that helps us out. We kind of just block out the outside information and what's most important is the boys in the circle here.

Don't really read staff or... Hold on. Are you not reading my comments under the article? I've got some good coaching tips in there been writing coaching tips in there, mate. You're not really, okay, yeah. Fair enough. You've got an amazing story, George.

I mean, it was only a few years ago that you were, you know, you were in Dunedin. You were even cast in an All Black, like a promo commercial or something. Some of the All Blacks were tackling you. You were just like, you were pretending to be an All Black. Now you're an actual All Black. Yeah, no, that is a pretty cool story,

even me thinking about it. I remember holding, I think I was holding a tackle bag for Kieran Reid and then Reid came in and put a few shoulders on. And for me, I was like, yo, this is awesome, man, getting, you know, tackle bag. And I had four All Blacks get on and three coffees the whole day.

And to me, that was like, wow, this is awesome, eh? I mean, even shaking your hands. Now you're an all-black. That was pretty special. I mean, so yeah, yeah. And kind of I managed to make the Crusaders kind of training squad the next year. And I was talking to Rita and I reminded him. I was like, oh, do you remember me from this promo?

And he's like, oh, that's where I've seen you. Your familiar face. That's where I've seen you. It was pretty cool. Because you're still getting rollover payments for that commercial. That's where I've seen you. You're a familiar face. That's where I've seen you. It was pretty cool. Yeah, because it is. You're still getting rollover payments for that commercial? The other amazing thing is you're a teacher, and the Super Rugby trophy came to your school,

and you got fined for picking it up and having a photo with it, and then it wasn't long until you were actually playing for the Crusaders a couple of years out, and you won the trophy and got to pick it up. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I was a teacher aide and, yeah, it came to our school. So, yeah, I picked it up. I wasn't supposed to. But then, yeah, a couple of years later I was kind of holding it up

and, yeah, actually being a part of the final. So, yeah, that was another little special moment. Well, you could see the emotion. We watched an interview with you before doing this, and you know, you could see the emotion when you talked about being an All Black and being in the team, and it must be, yeah, it must be just an incredible feeling. Definitely is. I think one of those interviews, he was just saying how, you know, I never really dreamt

of being a part of it because I never thought it was possible kind of thing. And yeah, a few years down the line, I'm here and in this environment and learning from the best of the best. So, yeah, it's kind of funny how it all works out. And, yeah, kind of just kept it on. Is it too late for us, George? Like, are we, you know, is this – Should we give up on our dreams?

Are they talking about us in the All Black camp? They're like, John, I'm being another way. Are we being mentioned? Probably not as a player, but maybe as a coach if you've got a few good ideas. Yeah, I've written them all in the bottom

of the stuff article, mate. Just get the boys to read that, okay? You also cut hair, yeah, as well. You turn yourself into a bit of a makeshift barber. Is that what you do

for the boys before the game? Yeah, well, there's another funny story. Before I was part of this in All Blacks and I used to actually cut hair in Dunedin

because I didn't want to pay for my haircut. It's so expensive. So I started getting quite good and watching YouTube clips and then the word started to spread. And then there was an All Blacks in Australia test there and a few of the All Blacks were looking for emergency haircuts just before they came. And so I got a knock on the door and Nehemiah Muscata rocks up

and comes into my kitchen, sits on my chair, and I start cutting him up and then Vyfer Peter comes in and these are all black. And I was like, oh, they're in my kitchen and my flatmates were just buzzing out. Now, you probably don't want to hear this as a teacher, George, but let's scrap the education system because we've got YouTube. You've just proved it. You can teach yourself anything from YouTube. If you applied yourself, watched enough, you know, a few videos, You've got YouTube. You've just proved it. You can teach yourself anything from YouTube. You could make it.

If you applied yourself, watched enough, you know, a few videos, you could be an open-heart surgeon on YouTube. I feel like there's more to it than that. He taught himself how to be a barber. Yeah, but open-heart surgery. I mean, you know. What do you think? As an education professional, is just scrapping school

and just getting the kids to watch YouTube a good idea? Oh, I don't know about that. I know you probably want a job after rugby. Exactly. George, it's been so lovely talking to you. All the very best. We are behind you. We're supporting the boys, and we can't wait for the game on Saturday.

Yeah, cheers, John. Ben, thanks for having me on the hits today, and good to talk to you guys, yeah. What a lovely dude. That's George Arbel from the All Blacks.