Bristol-bound Charles Piutau suffers injury blow for Ulster

Ulster will be without their talismanic fullback Charles Piutau for “a number of weeks” according to the club.

The Kiwi, who it’s rumoured will become rugby’s highest paid player when he joins Bristol next season, has dislocated a rib cartilage.

Piutau has made 17 appearances this season for Ulster and scored two tries.

Meanwhile flanker Sean Reidy, who had been recently been spoken about by Ireland coach Joe Schmidt, won’t be getting a Six Nations call-up because of a medial ligament knee injury. It will keep him out of action for approximately six weeks.

Squad update: @sean_reidy7, @CPiutau and @Rob_Lyttle ruled out for a number of weeks

Full story ➡️ https://t.co/2MNx7Rm3kV pic.twitter.com/DSVu85T1vx

— Ulster Rugby (@UlsterRugby) February 13, 2018

Ulster centre Rob Lyttle has “suffered a hamstring injury of significance” and he is expected to return to playing in 4-6 weeks.

There was good news with winger Andrew Trimble (back) and full back Peter Nelson (hamstring) returning to training and are in contention for Friday’s Pro 14 clash versus Edinburgh