Williams ruled out of Lions tour as White called up

Tomos Williams suffered a hamstring injury after scoring against the Western Force

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.

Gloucester's Williams was forced off the field with a hamstring injury after scoring a try in the 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.

Scotland scrum-half White will join the camp from Whangarei in New Zealand where he was preparing to face the Maori All Blacks, Fiji and Samoa this summer.

Ireland's Jamison Gibson-Park will make his first start of the Lions tour at nine against the Queensland Reds on Wednesday, having recovered from a glute injury.

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.''

White scored the game's opening try in Scotland's 16-15 loss to England in the Six Nations

'Williams' injury is a major blow' - analysis

Despite Wales' travails over the past year, Williams has been in outstanding form for his club Gloucester - winning the Premiership player of the year award - and he was in the process of playing his way into the Test 23 before his unfortunate injury in Perth.

With Jamison Gibson-Park yet to play and Alex Mitchell starting the defeat by Argentina, Williams had stolen a march on both with a strong cameo off the bench against the Pumas and a lively try-scoring performance against the Force.

Gibson-Park remains the favourite to start the Test matches, while Mitchell is a high-class number nine, but Williams would have been a real asset to Andy Farrell against the Wallabies, especially with the Lions so far opting for a high-tempo gameplan which suits the Welshman.

The next cab off the rank, White would have been close to selection for the tour in the first place and will be thrust into action as early as Saturday's match with the Waratahs.

The Scot had a good Six Nations, has been playing sharp-end knockout rugby in the French Top 14 with Toulon, and has a strong relationship with the likely Test fly-half, Finn Russell. While he has ground to make up, history is littered with examples of players joining Lions tours late and going on to make a major impact.

But Williams' injury is a major blow and leaves Jac Morgan as the sole Welsh representative on tour, a desperate state of affairs for a rugby nation which for so long has been so synonymous with the Lions.