Nic Groom

Nic Groom
Full nameNicholas James Groom
Date of birth (1990-02-21) 21 February 1990 (age 34)
Place of birthKing William's Town, South Africa
Height1.71 m (5 ft 7+1⁄2 in)
Weight81 kg (12 st 11 lb; 179 lb)
SchoolRondebosch Boys' High School
UniversityUniversity of Cape Town
Rugby union career
Position(s) Scrum-half
Current team Edinburgh
Youth career
2008–2011 Western Province
Amateur team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
2010–2011 UCT Ikey Tigers 8 (5)
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Points)
2011–2015 Western Province 69 (50)
2011–2016 Stormers 57 (25)
2016–2018 Northampton Saints 49 (35)
2018–2019 Lions 21 (15)
2018 Golden Lions 4 (5)
2019–2021 Edinburgh 22 (25)
2021 London Irish 4 (0)
2021 Tel Aviv Heat 0 (0)
Correct as of 4 February 2022
International career
Years Team Apps (Points)
2015 Barbarians 1 (0)
2016 South Africa 'A' 1 (0)
Correct as of 27 May 2018

Nicholas James Groom (born 22 February 1990) is a South African rugby union player. He plays as a scrum-half.

Career

A winner of the Varsity Cup with UCT in 2011, Groom received a swift call up to the Stormers side at the tail-end of the Super Rugby season to replace the injured Dewaldt Duvenhage and Ricky Januarie and he made a couple of substitute appearances. The next 18 months were to see him limited to Western Province appearances and he was a Currie Cup winner with the Streeptruie in 2012. 2013 saw the departure of Duvenhage and Groom was now in a one-on-one fight with Louis Schreuder for the Stormers and Province number 9 jersey and as a result he saw much more game time. He was a Currie Cup runner up in 2013 and he largely had to make do with appearances from the substitutes bench as Schreuder stole a march in the battle to be first choice scrum-half. However, he was to become a Currie Cup winner again in 2014, this time against the Golden Lions in a season which had seen him edge ahead of Louis Schreuder both at Super Rugby level where he started 12 of 16 games in a tough campaign and also domestically where he started 7 of 9 games and scored 1 try in the process.

He signed a contract to join English Premiership side Northampton Saints at the end of the 2016 Super Rugby season and has since become a regular started for the Midlands side.[1]

Groom has been a regular feature in the Saints' starting side and was instrumental in them securing European Champions Cup rugby for the 2017/18 season, featuring heavily in both the European Champions Cup play-off games where Saints saw off both Connacht Rugby and Stade Francais to secure their spot in the competition for the following season.[2] On 3 April 2018, it was announced that Groom would leave Northampton with immediate effect to join the Super Rugby team the Lions.[3]

On 27 June 2019, Groom returned to the UK with Pro14 side Edinburgh in Scotland from the 2019–20 season.[4] He was released on 22 April 2021[5] and subsequently signed for Premiership Rugby team London Irish until the end of the 2020–21 season.[6]

International rugby

On 28 May 2016, Groom was included in a 31-man South Africa squad for their three-test match series against a touring Ireland team.[7] After training with the national team for a few days, he joined the South Africa 'A' squad for their two-match series against a touring England Saxons team.[8] He was named in the starting line-up for their first match in Bloemfontein,[9] but ended on the losing side as the visitors ran out 32–24 winners.[10]

Super Rugby statistics

As of 9 June 2020
Season Team Games Starts Sub Mins Tries Points Yellow card Red card
2011 Stormers 2 0 2 35 0 0 0 0
2012 Stormers 0
2013 Stormers 9 4 5 371 1 5 0 0
2014 Stormers 16 12 4 924 0 0 0 0
2015 Stormers 16 13 3 955 2 10 1 0
2016 Stormers 14 10 4 765 2 10 0 0
2017 In Europe with Northampton Saints
2018 Lions 8 5 3 315 2 10 0 0
2019 Lions 13 7 6 579 1 5 0 0
Total 78 51 27 3949 8 40 1 0

References

  1. ^ "DHL Stormers to bid Groom farewell" (Press release). Stormers. 2 May 2016. Archived from the original on 2 May 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  2. ^ "Northampton Saints Vs Stade Francais Paris | European Cup".
  3. ^ "Nic Groom to leave Saints with immediate effect" (Press release). Northampton Saints. 3 April 2018. Archived from the original on 3 April 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  4. ^ "Edinburgh sign South African scrum-half Groom". Edinburgh Rugby. 27 June 2019. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  5. ^ "Duo depart Edinburgh Rugby". Edinburgh Rugby. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  6. ^ "Nic Groom agrees short-term deal | 5th May 2021 | News". London Irish. 5 May 2021. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  7. ^ "Squad of 31 ushers in new era of Springbok rugby". South African Rugby Union. 28 May 2016. Archived from the original on 31 May 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  8. ^ "Ackermann to coach SA 'A' against Saxons". South African Rugby Union. 28 May 2016. Archived from the original on 31 May 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  9. ^ "Youth and experience for SA 'A' opener against Saxons". South African Rugby Union. 8 June 2016. Archived from the original on 10 June 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  10. ^ "SA Rugby Match Centre – South Africa "A" 24–32 England Saxons". South African Rugby Union. 10 June 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2016.