Ouch.

Leinster could soon be boosted by the return of lock James Ryan who has opened up about the ‘freak injury’ he sustained during the Six Nations that has kept him out since the beginning of March.

Ryan picked up the injury in training ahead of Ireland’s penultimate game against England, somehow managing to rupture his bicep during an innocuous game of tip rugby.

While trying to shut hooker Tom Stewart down, the Ulster hooker stepped him and his bicep completely blew out in absolute freakish fashion.

Ryan was left in a “huge cast” for two weeks and ended up copping plenty of slagging from this teammates as a result.

“We were just playing ‘grab’, and Tom Stewart did me with a dummy, and it just went, I ruptured my bicep,” Ryan told the Irish Independent.

“I could feel it straight away. It was very sore for about four or five seconds, but after that it was fine. It was a bit innocuous, it wasn’t in full contact in the middle of a maul or something.

“If I was watching the ball better defensively, it wouldn’t have happened. I caught myself man-watching, so I can only blame myself.

“There wasn’t much slagging (for the dummy) at that point, but I was in a huge cast for like two weeks. It just made it look way worse than it actually was, so there was a fair bit of slagging for that…”

In terms of returning, Ryan is hopeful he’ll be back before the end of the season.

“I’m not too far away, I’m hoping to get back before the end of the season,” he added.

That’s pretty realistic. Hopefully I’ll be back before the end of the season, all going well, if we keep winning.