James “Jimmy” Topping (born 18 December 1974) is an Irish rugby former player and current coach. As a player, he won eight caps for the

Ireland national rugby union team The Ireland national rugby union team is the men's representative national team for the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team represents both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Ireland competes in the annual Six Nations Champio ...

between 1996 and 2003, playing on the wing. Topping was born in Belfast and played his club rugby for

Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 31,205 people at the 2021 United Kingdom census, making it the List of localities in Northern Ireland by population, seven ...

and

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

. Topping also played sevens for the

Ireland national rugby sevens team The Ireland national rugby sevens team competed in several international rugby sevens competitions. The team was governed by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU). In May 2025 the IRFU dismantled the programme at the end of the 2024/25 season, i ...

. He played at the

2001 Rugby World Cup Sevens The 2001 Rugby World Cup Sevens was the third edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens and was held in Mar del Plata, Argentina. New Zealand defeated Australia to win the tournament for the first time. All the matches were played at José María M ...

and also played several legs on the

World Rugby Sevens Series The SVNS, known as the HSBC SVNS for sponsorship reasons, is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World ...

. Since retiring from playing, Topping has been involved in coaching, including Ulster youth rugby, and the

References

Irish rugby union players Ireland international rugby union players Rugby union wings Ulster Rugby players Ballymena R.F.C. players Living people 1974 births Ireland international rugby sevens players Rugby union players from Belfast Irish rugby union coaches 1999 Rugby World Cup players {{Ireland-rugbyunion-bio-stub Coaches at the 2024 Summer Olympics