Dylan Groom and Chiefs centre Robbie Fruean share remarkable stories of beating the odds.

Rugby News Exclusive by Brendan Bradford –

Robbie Fruean and Dylan Groom.

One’s the rampaging 105kg Chiefs centre who strikes fear into the hearts of opposition defences. And the other one? Well, the other one is Dylan Groom.

At a glance, there are no similarities.

Dylan’s a soccer loving, six-foot plus, fitness freak and Fruean’s a stocky, Samoan Super Rugby powerhouse. They’re polar opposites but are linked by inspirational stories of hope and resolve. The unlikeliness of the bond they share is only outdone by the odds they’ve beaten.

One of the most damaging runners in New Zealand rugby since Jonah Lomu, Robbie developed serious heart complications after contracting rheumatic fever as a teenager and in 2008 had open-heart surgery to replace a valve in his own heart with a pig’s. “I do tend to enjoy my bacon a bit more,” he joked at the time, but it was the only way of keeping his professional rugby dreams alive. He recovered and fought his way back to Super Rugby before finding out the pig valve didn’t last as long as expected.

Unable to perform to his vast potential, he had further surgery last year to replace the pig’s valve with a bigger cow’s valve. It keeps him alive. It keeps him playing.

Fruean takes on the Highlanders defence early in the season.

Hamilton 20-year-old Dylan had spent just three months on this Earth when he was diagnosed with an AV malformation of the vein of Galen (an aneurysm in the brain) and was given little chance of survival.

A French professor was the only person in the world capable of saving Dylan’s life and after three nervous journeys to France, five years and five operations, Dylan seemed to have beaten the odds. That is, until a routine check-up revealed a potentially life-threatening heart condition linked to his health complications as a youngster.

In late 2012 the then 19-year-old underwent open-heart surgery to have a hole in his heart and a valve on the wrong side of his heart repaired.

Less than six months later he returned to the soccer pitch as a substitute for his Hamilton side Clube Alegria and slotted a penalty in an emotional victory.

Dylan says he’d never been to a rugby match before; had never worn a rugby jersey. That was before he saw Robbie Fruean tearing the Crusaders defence to shreds in February.

“I knew Robbie had heart surgery like me and when I watched him against the Crusaders the other week and he ran over three dudes and scored, I was just like, ‘I’ve gotta meet that guy,’”  he says.

“I coach the Chiefs’ assistant coach’s kid in soccer, so I spoke to him and asked if I could go along and have a chat. He asked Robbie who said he was keen as.”

A week later Dylan was getting a tour of the Chiefs’ training facilities in Ruakura.

Back in action. Dylan playing soccer for Hamilton side Clube Alegria.

“We walked into this room and they said, ‘here’s Wayne and Dave’ and it was Wayne Smith and Dave Rennie. I just tripped out. I had a chat to them for about ten minutes and they were both really good dudes, then I went and watched all the boys in the gym for a while.

“The stuff they were doing just blew my mind; the weights they were lifting and stuff. Then Robbie Fruean saw me and was like ‘yeah bro, come on down’ so I’m moving amoungst Aaron Cruden and Muliaina – dodging them – and had a chat with Fruean for like half an hour.”

Fruean, the 2007 IRB Under-19 World Player of the Year, gave Dylan a tour of the gym.

“We walked past this dude who was lifting a stupid amount and Fruean was just like ‘that’s Augustine (Pulu), he’s injured for another week or two.’ I couldn’t believe how hard he was training and he wasn’t even fit.”

It’s the dream of most Kiwi kids to have such inside access to the most revered sports-people in the country, but for Dylan, it had far greater meaning.

“He was telling me about his experiences in hospital, which was real cool because he knew what I was talking about. No one I’ve talked to about my own experiences can really understand, but he could and he told me some pretty crazy stories about what he’d been through.

“He’s the goodest dude out, he was so humble and he’s just an inspiration aye. He gave me a Chiefs jersey – I’ve never worn a rugby jersey in my life, but I will now and I’m gonna go to every Chiefs game I can get to.

“When I was leaving he said to come down to training whenever I wanted and was like, ‘don’t be a stranger, I’ll look out for you and you look out for me.’

“He’s just the man.”