Wales prop out of Springboks series after horror head knock

Wales prop Tomas Francis has been ruled out of their tour of South Africa after sustaining concussion in the first Test against the Springboks in Pretoria.

Within 30 seconds of coming on as a replacement at Loftus Versfeld, the tighthead suffered a serious blow to the head while attempting to tackle Bok counterpart Steven Kitshoff.

Play was halted for several minutes as Francis was removed from the field on a stretcher. 

Francis would have missed this Saturday's second Test in Bloemfontein due to World Rugby's new mandatory 12-day rest period for category one concussions. However, upon further medical evaluation, he will be sent home on Tuesday, therefore also missing the final Test in Cape Town on 16 July.

The Wales Rugby Union commented in a statement on Monday night: "The WRU medical team have withdrawn Francis from the remainder of the series to allow him to optimise his recovery. He will return home to Wales tomorrow (Tuesday)."Dillon Lewis, Sam Wainwright and Harri O'Connor are the remaining tighthead props in the squad."

The Welsh are 1-0 down in the three-Test series after narrowly losing 32-29 at Loftus.

??????????????SQUAD UPDATE | WRU medical team has withdrawn Tomas Francis from remainder of ???? Series following his concussion to allow him to optimise his recovery. He returns home tomorrow. Dillon Lewis, Sam Wainwright & Harri O'Connor are the remaining tight-head props in the squad. pic.twitter.com/e71lxT03qz