“I really think that rugby saved my life. If I didn’t play rugby, if I wasn’t at Sale, I would never have known that my heart was in danger of failing.”
Those are the reflective words of Sale Sharks second row Alex Groves, who, this weekend, made his first start for the club since the open heart surgery he urgently required just shy of a year ago. It interrupted Groves’s breakout year having joined the club from Bristol in February 2022, a year on from winning the grand slam with England u20s.
Four years ago, Groves was told during some pre-season cardio screenings – tests unavailable to the public without symptoms – that he had a leaky valve in his heart. ‘Nothing abnormal there’, he was told. ‘One in four have it, we’ll just have to monitor it.’
When those same tests were carried out in his first pre-season at Sale, he was told the situation had worsened, and that he would need surgery within the next four-to-five years to stop his heart from growing to a size where it wouldn’t be able to support itself.
Then, on January 5, 2024, Groves’s 23rd birthday, he was told that the discovery of an aneurism required urgent action.
“With an aneurism coming into play I couldn’t play rugby, there was no choice about it,” says Groves. “An aneurism is the lining on the wall for your artery, so it has a good chance of rupturing if it gets any form of contact straight to it. If that ruptures then it would be life-threatening, and I’d be on the field where I couldn’t get the support I needed.
“Looking back on when the surgeon told me, I definitely realise now that I wasn’t in a clear head space at all. At the time I felt like I was understanding things, but I was just all over the place.
“I remember he just dropped in that I might not be able to play rugby ever again and thank God my parents were there, because if they weren’t I wouldn’t have known what went on in the meeting because I just completely shut off. I couldn’t really comprehend anything further after that.
“Then just as I was getting myself together, we started speaking about the risk to life, and how I might pass during surgery. Again the exact same thing happened, everything just became a bit of a haze, I don’t really remember anything after that meeting to be honest.”
On February 11, Groves spent seven hours under the knife. The surgery went smoothly, resulting in no added complications, like the insertion of a pacemaker. Following a week in the intensive care unit accompanied by his family from South Africa and girlfriend Katherine, Groves headed to a new home with some family friends, his previous solo living arrangement untenable post-operation.
In front of him was a lengthy recovery journey, although he quickly sought advice from fellow English lock Nick Isiekwe; The Saracen had returned to playing four months after heart surgery amended a problem similar to Groves’s leaky valve in 2022.
“Luckily the surgery went very, very well, so I knew that was the first step to me returning,” says Groves. “It took a while to feel as comfortable again in just my day-to-day life. They wanted me to cough, to get chest movement, but coughing was the worst bit.
“There was plenty of tough days last year, all the way through from the day before my surgery, right to the end. I’d wake up some days and just have no motivation at all. Stuff like me not being able to climb up a flight of stairs without being out of breath, sweating and my heart going all different rhythms. It’s just really demotivating.
“It definitely got in my head quite a bit, but the club were there to help me with all that, I got the support I needed.”
Rugby was solace for the 6’9” South African-born lock. He recalls watching hours upon hours of rugby, from the Vancouver sevens in the early hours, to clips of lineouts from the Premiership, Top14 and more. Aiding his friend Ben Bamber, still relatively new to rugby union himself, with his lineout work during his breakout season was of additional help, despite the mixture of pride and jealousy.
“Countless” running sessions followed weeks of physiotherapy at Alexandra Hospital, all of it building to the crucial meeting on November 30t, where Groves was given the all-clear to play.
“It was a shock really,” recalls Groves, “because I was up all night thinking about what the different outcomes would be, the different discussions, arguments I’d have to have. Sale were very thorough in making sure that I was safe to be put back onto the field. We had independent doctors and thorough reviews of my surgery.
“My emotions were all over the place but when I got the all clear it was such a sense of relief, I must’ve shed a tear or two. When I got back out there and got the ball in my hands and started playing rugby, it came back to me a lot quicker than I imagined it would, so I realised ‘yeah, I’ve got this’.”
Groves made his long-awaited return to rugby on December 28, 2024, off the bench in Caldy’s loss to Ealing Trailfinders, exactly ten months and 18 days after his operation. A first game since September 2023 for Sale came against Caldy, followed by his first start against Doncaster Knights.
“I’m absolutely loving being back on the field,” he says. “Wearing the Sharks jersey’s massive for me. The opportunity I’m getting through this Prem Cup period, it feels like I’m making my debut all over again.
“My big thing after the operation was just being able to play rugby. It was my only goal. But now I realise that I’ve been given a second chance to do what I love. It has definitely made me realise that life’s about having fun but it’s a second chance I want to take.”
