His cousin Apisai Naikatini was part of the Wellington side which wrestled the Log O’Wood from Auckland in 2008 and held on to it for almost a year until Canterbury whisked it away.
At some stage during that tenure, Naikatini popped over to the Bower household and he brought a guest.
So there it was — the Ranfurly Shield propped up safely while the Bower family toasted it.
"We were sitting around the kava bowl and the Ranfurly was right there! That was my first interaction with the Ranfurly Shield, so now I’m here playing for a different province but it is right over there," Bower (28) said, gesturing over his left shoulder towards where the coveted trophy was resting on a table while Otago trained.
"And I’ve drunk kava with it before," he added laughing.
"But it does mean a lot. Ranfurly Shield challenges don’t come around often.
"You could see in our performance against Taranaki how much we wanted it."
Otago produced a clinical performance to beat Taranaki 30-19 and win the shield for the third time in the past seven years. The team’s first defence of this reign is against Hawke’s Bay at Forsyth Barr Stadium tomorrow.
There is some symmetry there for two of the Otago coaching staff.
Head coach Tom Donnelly and assistant coach Lee Allan both played when Otago last defended the shield against Hawke’s Bay in 2013. It lost 20-19.
"We actually have not talked about it this week. This is a new team and we’ve left our demons in the past," Bower said.
Hawke’s Bay is fresh from a historic 20-19 victory against Canterbury. It was its first win against Canterbury in 38 years, so it will present a stern challenge.
The visitors arguably boast the most effective rolling maul in the tournament. Veteran hooker Ash Dixon is seemingly unstoppable when he gets in the boot of a drive.
But Otago is certainly prepared. Plenty of practice has gone into the defending the rolling maul this week.
"We pride ourselves on our mauls and our maul defence and we know Hawke’s Bay will bring an attacking mindset — they pretty much maul from anywhere in the field.
"The boys have prepared for it and are ready for whatever comes. We just have to be switched on."
Bower grew up in Wellington but moved to Dunedin to train as a teacher. He plugged away for the Harbour Hawks and for Otago B.
He managed a couple of runs for Otago, but his career took an upswing in 2018.
He forced his way into the Otago squad and got picked up by the Crusaders and has snagged a couple of Super Rugby titles.
Otago has made two changes from the successful side which took the shield from Taranaki.
Ricky Jackson replaces Liam Coltman as the starting hooker. Coltman, who was called into the All Blacks squad as injury cover for Asafo Aumua, drops to the bench.
The only other change sees Sione Misiloi replace Nasi Manu on the bench.