Topping breaks leg, Williams’ arm not broken

James Topping has been hit a body blow with the news that he will miss most of the rest of the season, after breaking his leg in action for his club Ballymena on Saturday.

Topping, who has been capped eight times by Ireland and mad over 100 appearances for Ulster, is no stranger to bad luck in the injury department as his career has been stalled a number of times due to injury.

Indeed, it’s not his first broken leg, and a broken thumb kept him out of Ulster’s 1999 European Cup triumph. Topping also had to come home early from Ireland’s tour to New Zealand in 1998 with a shoulder injury.

Topping turns 30 in December, so there must be a question mark over whether or not he will be coming back to professional rugby.

Meanwhile, the news for Munster’s Jim Williams is better. There were fears that he had broken his right elbow playing against Leinster on Saturday evening. An X-ray has shown that there are no broken bones, though he will have to wait on the results of a scan to determine the extent of the damage.