Tomos Williams ruled out of Lions tour as White called up

Wales scrum-half Tomos Williams has been ruled out of the rest of the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia with Scotland’s Ben White called up.

Williams was forced off the field with a hamstring injury after scoring a try in their 54-7 win over Western Force in Perth on Saturday.

”This is desperately sad news for Tomos,” said Lions tour manager Ieuan Evans. ”He is an exemplary Lion who had a brilliant season having joined the Tour as Premiership player-of-the-season. He lit up this Lions tour with both his personality and his talent.”

Williams’ departure means there is now only one Welshman remaining in the 38-strong squad in flanker Jac Morgan.

Head coach Andy Farrell confirmed the injury ”was worse than expected” and will keep Williams out medium to long term.

”We saw what it meant to him on the announcement day, how hard he’s worked and the season he’s had” said Farrell. ”He’s an outstanding player, he’s played unbelievable well. But we won’t just miss the player, we’ll miss the bloke. He’s everything you want to have which makes it tougher for us all.”

Scotland’s Ben White will join the camp from Whangārei in New Zealand where he was preparing to face the Māori All Blacks. Ireland’s Jamison Gibson-Park will make his first start of the tour against the Queensland Reds having recovered from a glute injury.