Lions dealt scrum-half blow with Tomos Williams's tour in doubt after hamstring injury

Telegraph

2 days ago

Tomos Williams's Lions tour is in major peril after the Wales scrum-half exited the 54-17 victory over the Western Force with a hamstring injury.
Williams has been in outstanding form this season and was crowned Premiership Player of the Season. An impressive cameo off the bench in the 28-24 defeat to Argentina followed and he picked up where he left off at the Optus Stadium in Perth.
The Gloucester half-back got the Lions' second try after supporting a searing break by Henry Pollock and formed an instant understanding with Scotland fly-half Finn Russell.
Yet in the process of scoring his second try after a rapid exchange of passes with James Lowe, Williams immediately clasped his left hamstring and was replaced by Alex Mitchell.
From one end to another in NO TIME! ⚡️
Tomos Williams finishes off a flowing Lions counterattack! 😍 pic.twitter.com/qAtHVJx7YB
— Sky Sports (@SkySports) June 28, 2025
After the match Andy Farrell was unaware of the extent of the damage but is hoping that the injury will not prove to be a tour-ender.
'He has come off holding his hamstring,' the Lions head coach said. 'There was plenty of cramp last week, let's hope it is one of those. He was playing well and I am sure there is a bit of concern there but you can only deal with the here and now so fingers crossed.'
The Lions are particularly vulnerable at scrum-half where Jamison Gibson-Park has not played since Leinster's United Rugby Championship semi-final victory against Glasgow Warriors on 7 June due to a glute injury.
Farrell insists Gibson-Park is available for selection for the next warm-up match against the Queensland Reds on Wednesday, although if Williams is not replaced then Mitchell will have to play in his third successive match.
'Jamison is fit and ready to go and has been training fully for the best part of a week,' Farrell said.
'We are happy with that but you don't know until you do and we will only know in the morning. I don't know what the timings are of that, with the flights, but you have to let these things settle down and give it a little bit of space. There is always something that is going to happen you are not quite sure about, that is the nature of the tour.'
Should Williams be ruled out then it would leave flanker Jac Morgan as the sole Wales representative in Farrell's 38-man squad.
Toulon scrum-half Ben White is the likeliest call-up having just landed in Auckland ahead of Scotland's match against the New Zealand Maori and could be in place for the match against the Reds in Brisbane.
However, centre Sione Tuipulotu says the possible loss of Williams, who had an ice pack on his hamstring after the game, would be a huge loss to the squad.
'We're hoping that it is not too serious so he can still be available for us,' Tuipulotu said. 'He's played really well today and offers us a bit of an energy plug doesn't he? After the season that he has had and getting to know him over the last couple of weeks I just really hope it's not anything serious and he can come back and contribute.'
Williams' injury took the gloss off a decent victory for the Lions, who ran in eight tries in their first tour match on Australian soil. The tourists did have issues with their discipline in the first half as well as their restart work throughout the match.
'We need to catch them,' Farrell said bluntly of the discipline. Otherwise he declared himself reasonably satisfied with the performance and the result.
'I am happy with the scoreline and how we got to that point because it wasn't always going our way,' Farrell said. 'We fixed things up and played some good rugby and scored some nice tries. There is still plenty to go off as you would expect so early in the tour and in a side with nine new caps that has never played together.'
Who could replace Williams if scrum-half's tour is over?
Ben White (Toulon and Scotland)
Possibly unlucky not to have made the original squad, White has the immediate advantage of proximity having just landed in Auckland ahead of Scotland's match against the New Zealand Maori next weekend. He also offers a ready-made connection with Finn Russell and would go some way to replacing Williams' sniping ability.
Ben Spencer (Bath and England)
If Russell is your starting Test fly-half and you want to build the best possible half-back partnership then Spencer is your man. Overlooked by England for the tour to Argentina, Spencer and Russell guided Bath to the Premiership title. Also happens to be the best box kicker in the business which could prove an important weapon in the Test series.
Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester and England)
Technically Van Poortvliet has already been called up by the Lions having been in to cover Gibson-Park's absence in the build-up to the Argentina game in Dublin. After a rocky couple of years, Van Poortvliet looks back to the player who made such an impact on his debut in England's tour of Australia in 2022.