A support ring supports a welding ring to guide welding bugs around a coated pipe section. The support ring has a tubular body to support the welding ring, the body having substantially circular curvature around a longitudinal axis. At least one grounding extension connected to the body is offset longitudinally and radially outwardly with respect to the body and the longitudinal axis. This allows the grounding extension to lie radially outboard of a parent coating of the pipe section while the body encircles a cut-back end zone where the parent coating has been cut back. Pipe sections abutting end-to-end for welding can each be fitted with these support rings. This enables welding rings to encircle both of the cut-back end zones and allows effective grounding connections to be made without enlarging the cut-back end zones.