Wales scrumhalf Tomos Williams has been ruled out of the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour after injuring his hamstring in Saturday’s 7-54 victory over Western Force.

Williams scored twice and looked to have injured his hamstring when diving for the line for the second of the two.

Scotland’s Ben White – who has just finished his club season with French side Toulon – has been called up as his replacement.

“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.”

The injury to Williams means there is now only one Welshman remaining in the 38-strong squad in flanker Jac Morgan.

Head coach Andy Farrell confirmed Williams’ injury ”was worse than expected”.

“He’s an outstanding player – he’s played unbelievably well,” said Farrell. “But we won’t just miss the player, we’ll miss the bloke.

“He’s everything you want to have on a tour which makes it tougher for us all.”

Jamison Gibson-Park back from injury

Farrell has also named his Lions side for their next match on tour against Queensland Reds in Brisbane on Wednesday.

Irish duo Gibson-Park and Hugo Keenan will make their first appearances on tour, having missed the first two matches with niggling injuries.

In all, Farrell makes 14 changes to the side that soundly beat the Force in Perth, with only flyhalf Finn Russell retaining his place.

Scotland centre Huw Jones also starts for the first time on tour, with Bundee Aki partnering him in midfield.

Andrew Porter, Ronan Kelleher and Will Stuart will also start for the first time in the front-row as will Ollie Chessum at lock and Jack Conan at number eight.

Ireland’s James Ryan is set to make his Lions debut off the bench against the Reds.

The last remaining Welshman – Morgan – starts at openside flanker. With Williams out, Alex Mitchell is the replacement scrumhalf.

“Here we go now,” said Farrell in rainy Brisbane. “This is proper touring. Games are coming thick and fast.

“Three games in eight days and it keeps on rolling after that, so this is the exciting part of the tour for us. We’ve just been outlining to the lads this morning, actually, what the weeks are going to look like.

“Not much training out there on the field, but plenty of mental preparation. We see it as a great opportunity for ourselves to be fast-tracking our ambition, our potential as a team.”

Teams

British and Irish Lions

Hugo Keenan, Tommy Freeman, Huw Jones, Bundee Aki, Duhan Van der Merwe, Finn Russell, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andy Porter, Ronan Kelleher, Will Stuart, Maro Itoje (capt), Ollie Chessum, Tom Curry, Jac Morgan, Jack Conan.

Replacements:

Luke Cowan-Dickie, Ellis Genge, Finlay Bealham, James Ryan, Ben Earl, Alex Mitchell, Fin Smith, Garry Ringrose.

Queensland Reds

Jock Campbell (capt), Lachie Anderson, Josh Flook, Hunter Paisami, Tim Ryan, Harry McLaughlin-Phillips, Kalani Thomas; Aidan Ross, Matt Faessler, Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, Josh Canham, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, Seru Uru, John Bryant, Joe Brial.

Replacements:

Josh Nasser, George Blake, Sef Fa’agase, Ryan Smith, Angus Blyth, Connor Vest, Louis Werchon, Isaac Henry.

---

Sportin Wales’s coverage of Wales’s World Cup qualifying campaign is proudly sponsored by S4C. You can watch all of Wales’s matches this year for free on S4C and S4C Clic.

If you want to read more pieces from Sportin Wales, why not read to our monthly magazine here or subscribe to the magazine and newsletter at https://sportin.wales/subscribe/.

Our podcast is back for the new season and our co-founder Alex Cuthbert is in charge! You can find all the episodes here or the video versions on our YouTube channel.

You can also keep track of our pieces and videos on our socials at @Sportin_Wales on X or Sportin Wales on Instagram and Facebook.