Tomos Williams has been ruled out of the remainder of the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia through injury, with Ben White called up as his replacement.
The Wales and Gloucester scrum-half, who won Premiership Player of the Season honours this year, suffered a hamstring injury while scoring his second stylish try during Saturday’s opening match of the tour, an emphatic 54-7 victory over Super Rugby’s Western Force in Perth.
Williams subsequently underwent tests and head coach Andy Farrell has now confirmed that the problem will see him play no further part for the Lions this summer.
He will be replaced in the squad by White, the Toulon scrum-half who was considered among the biggest omissions from the original tour squad and had been in New Zealand preparing for Scotland’s summer Tests against Fiji and Samoa.
“Unfortunately Tomos has been ruled out of the rest of the Tour with a hamstring injury,” said Farrell. “Ben White will join us from the Scotland squad and will fly over from New Zealand.”
Losing Williams is a key blow for the Lions, while it leaves flanker Jac Morgan as the only Welsh representative left in the tour squad.
Williams was generally considered by many as the third-choice scrum-half behind likely Test starter Jamison Gibson-Park and England’s Alex Mitchell, though made a strong case for a larger role by starring off the bench in the defeat by Argentina in Dublin before then scoring twice in another impressive performance against the Western Force.
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He is the second player to be ruled out of the tour since the squad was first announced last month, with Scotland prop Zander Fagerson not travelling to Australia due to a calf injury.
"It's shocking news for us all,” Farrell added. “We're not just going to miss an outstanding player - he played unbelievably well and it was some try that he was actually injured by.
"We're also going to miss the bloke. We have only been together for a few weeks now but his character is everything you want to have in your group on a Lions tour. He's very popular and that makes it a little bit tougher.
"Ben will be devastated for Tomos, like we all are. But at the same time, he's super excited.
"He obviously had ambition to get into the squad - as did many others who didn't get selected - so now he gets his chance."
The Lions’ scrum-half situation had been further complicated by Gibson-Park not being considered for the opening two games of the summer due to a glute injury that also ruled him out of Leinster’s URC Grand Final win over the Bulls.
Jack van Poortvliet, now on tour with England in Argentina, had been drafted into the squad to train as specialist cover at 9 ahead of the trip to Australia.
However, Gibson-Park has now shaken off that knock to be named in the starting lineup for Wednesday’s first midweek tour match against the Queensland Reds in Brisbane, with full-back Hugo Keenan also starting after injury and lock James Ryan on the bench.
Blair Kinghorn will also now travel to join up with the Lions after helping Toulouse to win the Top 14 title against Bordeaux on Saturday night.
Addressing his Lions call before leaving Scotland camp, White said: “It's pretty crazy, he [Farrell] called me this morning and I haven't stopped shaking since.
"It's an incredible honour, I'm really excited. I called my mum and dad straight away, I don't think they could quite believe it. They were obviously just incredibly proud.
"It was just a great phone call to have. I've not thought about it too much as yet. It's something you dream of, but you never really think you'll do. I'm just incredibly proud.
"Obviously watching the squad being announced was tough, but it was an experience that I can put in the locker room. I knew I just had to do what I could and try and play well for my club, Toulon and obviously come here (to New Zealand).
"I was really excited to be on tour with Scotland. I was focused on that and if it's meant to be, it's meant to be. I guess someone's looking out for me upstairs and I've fallen on my feet."
