Taylor suffered injury on the 2001 Lions tour to Australia

The 25-year-old, who pulled out of Saturday's defeat to New Zealand Maori, has run out of time to prove his fitness for a place in the Test team.

He will now be officially replaced in the squad by Welshman Ryan Jones.

"Simon is hugely disappointed. There is not a lot you can say to him," said head coach Sir Clive Woodward.

"It has been a long time now and there is still a slight problem there. He is not going to be able to challenge for a Test place.

"Simon is a class player, and I feel for him but he has the character to come back from this and we wish him well in his recovery."

You have to be philosophical about these things, move on, concentrate on getting right Simon Taylor

Taylor becomes the fourth player to withdraw from the Lions, joining Iain Balshaw, Malcolm O'Kelly and Lawrence Dallaglio.

The latest injury news is a big blow for Taylor, though, who flew home from the 2001 Lions tour to Australia because of injury after one brief appearance.

After a season battling with injuries, Taylor was selected for the tour but missed the warm-up game with Argentina because of the hamstring problem.

He was due to return in the Maori game but after feeling 'further discomfort' he was withdrawn.

"Obviously I am massively disappointed that my tour has ended this way, it is just an unfortunate co-incidence that this is my second tour to end like this," said Taylor.

"I thought that I had a lot to offer this time round especially having fought so hard to come back from injury over the past season.

"It is frustrating as I had been involved this week in full training sessions and my rehab had gone well but you have to be philosophical about these things, move on, concentrate on getting right.

Lions wake-up call thrills Jones

"It is not a long term injury but with only a few weeks left of the Lions Tour there are just no guarantees that it would be right in time."

With Dallaglio also out and Michael Owen flying home for the birth of his child, Jones was called from Wales' tour of North America last week.

The Newport-born Ospreys forward impressed in the 77-3 win over the USA last week and was due to start against Canada on Saturday.