Groves was born and brought up in Johannesburg but, aged 19, moved to join Bristol and would help England Under-20s win a Grand Slam.
As part of Bristol’s pre-season preparations in 2021, Groves and his team-mates underwent cardio screenings unavailable to the public without symptoms. After the tests he was informed he had a leaky valve in his heart.
The 6ft 9in (2.06m) lock was told it was nothing abnormal, that one in four people have the issue, and that it would just need to be monitored.
In April 2022 Groves joined Sale Sharks, and during another similar heart screening he was told his situation had deteriorated.
The view of medical experts was that he would need surgery within the next five years to stop his heart from growing to a size where it would not be able to support itself.
On 5 January 2024, Groves’ 23rd birthday, he was then told about the discovery of an aneurysm – an abnormal bulge in the wall of a blood vessel – that needed urgent attention.
“I remember they found the problem in August 2023 and from there it was on and off for a couple of months,” said Groves.
“I had a test in December and then on my birthday the following year, I went in and saw my surgeon with my parents in Liverpool.
“Thank God my parents were in that meeting with me because I completely shut off and everything my surgeon told me from that point on I did not take in.
“It literally scared the life out of me and I didn’t actually retain any information.
“I was on the car ride home back to Manchester and my parents were having to relay all the information.”
He recalled how an initial diagnosis had also been missed because of his unusual height.
“My surgeon said I could not play because they’d found an aneurysm that they’d missed,” said Groves.
“That was purely down to the fact MRI machines aren’t really built for six foot nine broad-shouldered people.
“I remember getting into that machine and sort of squishing up and by doing that, the extra body mass over my heart meant they missed it.
“But fortunately they found it because one wrong hit to the chest and I would’ve bled out in a matter of seconds because it was on my aortic artery.”
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