Malcolm O'Kelly has been forced to withdraw from the Lions tour because of a mysterious abdominal muscle injury. It is a huge blow for Ireland's most capped player of all time.

His two Lions tours will leave him with great cause for regret as the 30-year-old secondrow had little opportunity to show his ability four years ago in Australia. He is to be replaced by the Wasps and England lock Simon Shaw.

One feared for O'Kelly as soon as this trail of events began to unfold over the last two days. Withdrawn against Argentina last Monday week; on Tuesday he had spoken confidently of being fit to take his place on the bench against the Bay of Plenty tomorrow, despite the nagging concern about an ongoing groin problem which had now extended to spasms in his abdominal muscles.

A couple of hours later, though, the news from the Lions camp was that O'Kelly had been forced to pull out again due to a recurrence of this injury.

By yesterday morning Dr James Robson - on his fourth tour as Lions head doctor - had spoken with typical candour about O'Kelly's injury.

"Without giving you a detailed anatomy lesson you could describe him as having a lower abdominal oblique groin injury," said Robson.

"It's a peculiar injury for which I've actually been on the phone and consulted colleagues back home and in Australia and we're going to see one of our New Zealand colleagues this afternoon.

"Every injury that occurs every day is potentially tour-threatening to most of the players," admitted Robson, who is almost parental toward his players.

"You're talking about highly-tuned athletes and Mal is no different to that. I don't have a huge cause for concern at this time, but of course further consultations might actually change that."

Admitting that O'Kelly's injury was a complex case, Robson added: "I think we've unmasked something that's been going on for a little while and may have contributed to the injury that we were presented with a week ago."

Late last night, local time, sure enough the official release from the Lions' base confirmed that O'Kelly was the first player to have his tour cut short after an examination by an Auckland based specialist.

In a statement, O'Kelly was quoted as saying: "I am obviously very disappointed that for me the tour is over. I have had this problem for a while but had managed to keep it at bay. I have to be philosophical and accept the judgement of the doctors. It is as well just to accept it and go home, and let the coaches and players get on with the job of trying to win the series against New Zealand. They are a great bunch and though I am sorry I will no longer be part of it, I wish them all the best."

Clive Woodward said: "Mal is a terrific player and it is always very sad when a top class player loses out to injury like this."

"All of us, but perhaps most of all Mal's Irish team-mates, are obviously saddened at the news," Brian O'Driscoll was quoted as saying. "We've known about his injury but like him hoped it would not flare up like this."