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 hastily summoned 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, however, 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.
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Meanwhile Jamison Gibson-Park and Hugo Keenan will both make their Lions debuts when they face Queensland Reds on Wednesday. The Ireland pair have previously been sidelined but will now start in a side led by the returning tour captain Maro Itoje.
Fly-half Russell also starts his second successive match and 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. “We know each game on this Tour will be a step up from the game before,” said Farrell. “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 on tour with England’s Will Stuart picked at tight-head prop. Historically Queensland teams have had some success against the Lions, having previously beaten the touring team in 1899 and 1971.
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.