Alex Grove (born 30 November 1987) is a former Scottish

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. He plays as a

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

. Grove previously played for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

at under-18, under-19, and under-20 level.Scotland Profile
/ref> He was also part of Scotland A's victorious

IRB Nations Cup The Nations Cup is a rugby union competition that was first held in 2006 at Estádio Universitário in Lisbon with Argentina A, Italy A, Portugal and Russia taking part. The tournament is part of the International Rugby Board's US $50 million St ...

team in 2009, he received his first call-up to the full Scotland squad for the November internationals. An injury to

Ben Cairns Ben Cairns (born 29 September 1985 in Leeds) is a former Scotland rugby union international who played for Edinburgh Rugby in the Pro12. Cairns' position of choice is as a Centre and he can also operate at Full-back and on the Wing. He won hi ...

ensured that he started the first two games, which were wins over

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. He attended

Arnold Lodge School 'Look to the end' , established = 1864 , type = Independent day school , gender = Coeducational , lower_age = 4 , upper_age = 18 , enrolment = 300 , head_label = Headteacher , head = David Preston , chair_label = Directors , chair = Gar ...

and

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. Up ...

and was vice captain of the Rugby first XV. His grandfather is

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

-born

Ron Wylie Ronald Maurice Wylie (6 August 1933 – 14 April 2020) was a Scottish football player, coach and manager. He played as a right half or inside forward for Notts County, Aston Villa and Birmingham City, making more than 550 appearances in the Foot ...

, the former

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

and

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

footballer who also managed

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

, through which Alex qualifies for Scotland. He signed for Edinburgh on a six-month loan from Worcester for first half of the 2010–11 season in a view to increase his chances of World Cup selection while Worcester were playing in the

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men’s English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when ...

following relegation the previous season. Grove returned to Sixways at the start of 2011 and, after clocking up his 50th appearance for Warriors, helped the club achieve its promotion aspirations back to the Aviva Premiership. Grove once again cemented his place in the Warriors team the following season and made the joint second-most appearances alongside Andy Goode with 26. He finished the season with three tries, including a crucial one in the 19–9 home victory over Newcastle Falcons, who were eventually relegated and securing the

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union club, based in Worcester, England, that is currently in Administration (law), administration and which has been suspended and will be relegated from Premiership Rugby, the top ...

participation in the

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

for the 2012–13 season. On 11 July 2016, it was announced at Moseley Rugby FC's Club Forum that Alex had signed from Worcester for the 2016/2017 season, and the news was announced on Moseley's Official Twitter account shortly afterwards.

References

External links

Worcester Warriors profile

Scotland profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grove, Alex 1987 births Living people Worcester Warriors players Edinburgh Rugby players English people of Scottish descent Scotland international rugby union players Rugby union centres Birmingham & Solihull R.F.C. players Moseley Rugby Football Club players People educated at Arnold Lodge School Scotland 'A' international rugby union players