diff --git a/Lib/re.py b/Lib/re.py
index a33e34e4e1e..90956f34e23 100644
--- a/Lib/re.py
+++ b/Lib/re.py
@@ -290,8 +290,8 @@ class Scanner:
             p.append(sre_parse.SubPattern(s, [
                 (SUBPATTERN, (len(p)+1, sre_parse.parse(phrase, flags))),
                 ]))
+        s.groups = len(p)+1
         p = sre_parse.SubPattern(s, [(BRANCH, (None, p))])
-        s.groups = len(p)
         self.scanner = sre_compile.compile(p)
     def scan(self, string):
         result = []