Leigh Halfpenny's tour of South Africa is over after suffering an injury set-back © Getty Images

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Players/Officials: Stephen Ferris | Leigh Halfpenny | Ryan Jones

Tournaments/Tours: British and Irish Lions tour

Teams: British and Irish Lions | Ireland | Wales

Lions winger Leigh Halfpenny has been ruled out of the rest of the tour of South Africa after suffering a recurrence of a thigh injury.

The Wales international arrived late in South Africa after remaining at home for intensive treatment on his thigh injury and made his first tour start against the Cheetahs last Saturday. But he aggravated the injury during a training session earlier this week and subsequent scans have revealed he requires 3-4 weeks rehabilitation thus ending his tour.

The news is a second blow to the Lions' hopes in two days after flanker Stephen Ferris was struck by a knee injury that curtailed his tour. Wales captain Ryan Jones has been called in as a replacement for the Irishman although no replacement is being called for Halfpenny.

"Leigh unfortunately hurt his right thigh muscle during Monday afternoon's training, following a medical assessment it was decided that he should undergo a scan to determine the extent of the injury," head coach Ian McGeechan said in a statement.

"He had the scan on Tuesday morning that confirmed a presence of a further muscle injury to his right thigh which will require three to four weeks of rehabilitation which means he will miss the rest of the tour. I am especially disappointed for Leigh as he worked so hard to come back from the set back at the start of the Tour but he has proven his strength of character by the way that he is handling the news and we wish him a quick recovery.

"Leigh will travel with us to Cape Town and then return to the UK to continue his rehabilitation with the Cardiff Blues. We will not be replacing Leigh as we have enough cover for his position amongst the group of players that we have."

Tour manager Gerald Davies added, "We are obviously very disappointed that Leigh has sustained a further injury and we understand that this must be particularly frustrating that this has happened a second time, especially for a young man embarking on his rugby career but we wish him well for his rehabilitation."