The Wales scrum-half Tomos Williams has been ruled out of the remainder of the British & Irish Lions tour in Australia and will be replaced by Scotland’s Ben White.
A torn hamstring sustained in the act of scoring his second try against Western Force on Saturday has abruptly curtailed Williams’s involvement and White has been summoned hastily from Scotland’s tour of New Zealand.
It is a blow to the touring squad and means there is now just one Welsh playing representative – flanker Jac Morgan – left on the trip. White has been playing well for Toulon and is accustomed to forming a half-back pairing with his compatriot Finn Russell. The Toulon half-back was first capped for Scotland against England in 2022 and has won 29 caps for his country to date.
Jamison Gibson-Park and Hugo Keenan will make their Lions debuts when they face Queensland Reds on Wednesday. The Ireland pair have proved their fitness and will start in a side led by the returning tour captain, Maro Itoje.
Russell starts his second successive match and the head coach, Andy Farrell, is challenging his players to lift their game again having defeated Western Force 54-7 in their opening game on Australian soil.
British & Irish Lions: Keenan; Freeman, Jones, Aki, Van der Merwe; Russell, Gibson-Park; Porter, Kelleher, Stuart, Itoje (capt), Chessum, Curry, Morgan, Conan. Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Genge, Bealham, Ryan, Earl, Mitchell, F Smith, Ringrose.
“We know each game on this tour will be a step up from the game before,” the head coach said. “Three more players are set to make their Lions debuts on Wednesday night, so congratulations to those guys.”
The Ireland trio of Andrew Porter, Ronan Kelleher and Jack Conan all start for the first time with England’s Will Stuart picked at tighthead prop.
Queensland teams have had some success against the Lions, having beaten them in 1899 and 1971.
