The Sale Sharks prop had a scan this morning revealing a tear to cruciate ligaments which will rule him out of action for approximately six weeks.
James, who won his first and only cap to date against Romania in the summer of 2003, will join the squad tomorrow morning as they depart team HQ , the WRU Centre of Excellence at the Vale Resort in Hensol, on route to Toronto, before heading to Chicago for the second Test of the two match tour.
“Paul has represented his country through the age groups and, at 27, is still a young man for a front row forward,” said Wales coach McBryde.
“He has featured regularly for the Ospreys this season with Duncan Jones missing a large part through injury and has the necessary experience to provide us with good cover in that position.
“There is still time for him to make the next step up to full international rugby and this tour is a real opportunity for him.
“Eifion is understandably disappointed to be missing out in this way and he should be given a great deal of credit for the hard work he has put into his fitness in recent months, ensuring that he turned up to our training camp having achieved many of the results we had asked for.
“He is keen to heal up now as quickly as possible to ensure he doesn’t fall back on any of that hard work and get himself back into the selection mix for the start of next season and we wish him a speedy recovery.”
