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'I've been keeping an eye on Edinburgh's results and it's definitely a club on the rise'

Nic Groom will be hoping to speed up Edinburgh's play next season (Photo by Steve Haag/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

Edinburgh have continued to strengthen their squad ahead of next season with the signing of South African scrum-half Nic Groom.

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Groom, 29, joins from Super Rugby side Lions and brings a wealth of experience having amassed over 100 appearances for both the Stormers and Northampton Saints in recent seasons.

The scrum-half was a key man in the 2019 Lions Super Rugby squad that narrowly missed out on reaching the knockout stages of the competition, appearing in 13 out of 16 conference fixtures.

On joining the club, Groom said: “I’m really excited to link-up with Edinburgh. I’ve been keeping an eye on their results from South Africa and it’s definitely a club on the rise. I can’t wait to play my role in the seasons to come.

“My time at the Lions has been awesome. I’ve had the chance to work with fantastic coaches alongside some great players and I’m hugely grateful for the opportunity they gave me to play for them.

“From what I’ve heard, Edinburgh is a great place to live and play your rugby. My family can’t wait for the adventure that lies ahead.”

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Head coach Richard Cockerill, added: “Nic is a really intelligent player who has consistently been a standout performer during his time in Super Rugby and the English Premiership.

“That experience in the number nine jersey is obviously key, but Nic’s ability to snipe and create opportunities in and around the fringes brings a different dynamic to our squad, while his addition clearly creates competition for places.

“We’ve been looking at Nic for a while now, so it’s great to finally welcome him to Edinburgh. We’re really hopeful that he can make a strong impact in the seasons to come.”

Born in King William’s Town, Groom attended the University of Cape Town where he lifted the Varsity Cup in 2011. A double Currie Cup winner with Western Province in 2012 and 2014 – for whom he scored 50 points in 69 appearances – the scrum-half broke into the Stormers’ Super Rugby side in 2014, starting 12 out of 16 games for the Cape Town club.

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Groom continued to feature for the Stormers as the Newlands outfit recorded back-to-back third-place conference finishes in 2015 and 2016 before joining English Premiership side Northampton Saints at the beginning of the 2016/17 season.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BjXdtIaFBbB/

Groom became a regular feature in the Saints’ starting XV and was instrumental in them securing Heineken Champions Cup rugby for the 2017/18 season, appearing in both European play-off games that saw the English side defeat Connacht and Stade Francais to secure their spot in the competition for the following season.

The 5ft 8in playmaker returned to his native South Africa in 2018 – joining the Lions – and featured in eight games as the Johannesburg club reached the Super Rugby final for the third straight season only to fall short against the Crusaders 37-18.

Groom has been capped by South Africa A, while the scrum-half featured for the Barbarians as they defeated Samoa 27-24 at London’s Olympic Stadium in August 2015.

WATCH: Episode three of the RugbyPass Rugby Explorer series where Jim Hamilton visits South Africa

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H
Hellhound 50 minutes ago
South Africa player ratings | 2024 Autumn Nations Series

There is this thing going around against Siya Kolisi where they don't want him to be known as the best national captain ever, so they strike him down in ratings permanently whenever they can. They want McCaw and reckons he is the best captain ever. I disagree.


Just like they refuse to see SA as the best team and some have even said that should the Boks win a third WC in a row, they will still not be the best team ever. Even if they win every game between now and the WC. That is some serious hate coming SA's way.


Everyone forget how the McCaw AB's intimidated refs, was always on the wrong side, played on the ground etc. Things they would never have gotten away with today. They may have a better win ratio, but SA build depth, not caring about rank inbetween WC's until this year.


They weren't as bad inbetween as people claim, because non e of their losses was big ones and they almost never faced the strongest Bok team outside of the WC, allowing countries like France and Ireland to rise to the top unopposed.


Rassie is still at it, building more depth, getting more young stars into the fold. By the time he leaves (I hope never) he will leave a very strong Bok side for the next 15- 20 years. Not everyone will play for 20 years, but each year Rassie acknowledge the young stars and get them involved and ready for international rugby.


Not everyone will make it to the WC, but those 51/52 players will compete for those spots for the WC. They will deliver their best. The future of the Boks is in very safe hands. The only thing that bothers me is Rassie's health. If he can overcome it, rugby looks dark for the rest of the rugby world. He is already the greatest coach in WR history. By the time he retires, he will be the biggest legend any sport has ever seen

4 Go to comments
J
JW 1 hour ago
'They smelt it': Scott Robertson says Italy sensed All Blacks' vulnerability

No where to be seen OB!


The crosses for me for the year where (from memory);


This was a really hard one to nail down as the first sign of a problem, now that I've asked myself to think about it. I'd say it all started with his decision to not back form and fit players after all the injuries, and/or him picking players for the future, rather ones that could play right now.


First he doesn't replace Perofeta straight away (goes on for months in the team) after injury against England, second he falls back to Beauden Barrett to cover at fullback against Fiji, then he drops Narawa the obvious choice to have started, then he brings in Jordan too soon. That Barret selection (and to a lesser extent Bell's) set the tone for the year.


Then he didn't get the side up for Argentina. They were blown away and didn't look like they expected a fight and were well beaten despite the scoreline in my opinion. Worst performance of the year in the forth game and..


Basically the same problems were persistent, or even exaggerated, after that with the players he did select not given much of an opportunity, with this year having the most number of unused subs I can remember since the amateur days.


What I think I started to realise early on was that he didn't back himself and his team. I think he prepared the players well, don't get me wrong, but I'll credit him with making a conscious choice in tempering his ambition and instead choosing cohesion and to respect (the idea of it being important in himself and his players) experience first and foremost (after two tight games and that 4th game loss). I think he chose wrong in deciding not to be, and back, himself. Hard criticism.


And it played out by preferring Beauden to Dmac on the EOYT (though that may have been a planned move).


I hope I'm right, because going through all the little things of the season and coming up with these bullets, I've got to wonder when I say his last fault is one we have seen at the Crusaders, playing his best players into the ground. What I'm really scared of now is that not wanting a bit of freshness in this last game could be linked with all these other crosses that I want to put down to simple confidence issues. But are they really a sign that he just lacks vision?


Now, that's not to say I haven't seen a lot of positives as well, I just think that for the ABs to go where they want to go he has to fix these crosses. Just have difficult that will be is the question.

27 Go to comments
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