Arabic version: تشريح الجثة يكشف وفاة هايرون أندروز لأسباب طبيعية

According to BBC News, former Sale second row Hyron Andrews died of natural causes after being found dead at his new team’s hotel base before a Champions Cup match in France on Saturday. An autopsy found that the 31-year-old suffered a tear in the aorta.

Andrews had joined the Johannesburg-based Lions during the summer. The aorta is an artery that carries blood from the heart to the rest of the body. The rupture caused blood to fill the muscle sac surrounding his heart.

He was found unconscious in a shower cubicle. Investigators had considered whether he had suffered a fall, a heart attack or an aneurysm, in which a bulging blood vessel breaks. A tear in the aorta is a rare and dangerous medical condition that can be caused by undetected high blood pressure or a birth defect.

Andrews’ body had not yet been returned to his native South Africa. His wife, Maighlin, with whom he had two young sons, asked for “respect, privacy and patience during this difficult time as the repatriation process begins”, the Lions said in a statement.

Lions players went ahead with their match against La Rochelle on Saturday in his honour. Home supporters applauded the visitors into the Stade Marcel-Deflandre, and several Lions players were in tears during a minute’s silence before kick-off. Sale, where Andrews spent two and a half seasons, also paid tribute, with director of rugby Alex Sanderson saying the team “to a man, loved playing with Hyron and being around him”.