Australians honour 1984 hero Slack

ANDREW Slack, the captain of Australia's only rugby team to complete a grand slam over the four home nations, has been inducted into the Wallabies' hall of fame.

The Queensland centre played 39 tests for Australia between 1977 and 1987, captaining the side on 19 occasions including the all-conquering 1984 team that swept England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Australia's bid for a second grand slam sweep last year was dashed by a 9-8 defeat to Scotland and a 20-20 draw against Ireland.

Meanwhile, South Africa's second row troubles deepened yesterday when lock Andries Bekker was ruled out of this weekend's Tri-Nations clash with Australia because of a back injury. Bekker suffered an acute disc injury in the world champions' 31-17 defeat by New Zealand and will miss Saturday's match against the Wallabies in Brisbane.

"It is a setback but we will have to deal with it," said South African coach Peter de Villiers.