Australia's Vickerman cleared of serious injury

Australia lock Dan Vickerman has been cleared of serious injury after damaging his shoulder in the 49-0 Tri-Nations rugby win over South Africa on Saturday.

The Wallabies' pack leader and vice-captain is now hoping to be fit for Australia's next contest against New Zealand in Brisbane on July 29.

"I'm pretty happy obviously. It's a big relief," the 27-year-old NSW Waratahs forward said yeasterday.

Vickerman was replaced shortly after half-time in Australia's record rout of the Springboks at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium.

It was initially feared he would be out of action for six weeks with the injury to a shoulder that required reconstructive surgery last year, but a scan yesterdayrevealed the damage to be less severe.

"Coming off a long shoulder injury, I had six months out and sort of had a fair bit of time to reflect," he said.

"So it's good news this time around and hopefully I'll do a bit of rehab over the next couple of weeks and get it back to where it was and get rid of the pain."

Vickerman said Australia must not rest on their laurels after the Springbok rout and must look to avenge the 32-12 reverse they suffered against the All Blacks earlier in the month.

"We've got to get more consistent. That's the goal for us," he said.

"At times, we still had some scrums that weren't as good as we would have liked and we had some lineouts that weren't as good as we like."

Vickerman, who will avoid all contact work for the rest of the week, said it was key for the Wallabies to bounce back against the All Blacks to set up a Bledisloe Cup decider in Auckland on August 19.

"It's a key game for us and, if we can play well in that game and play the way we want to play, it will certainly stand us in good stead for the rest of the Tri-Nations."

In the next Tri-Nations fixture, the All Blacks take on South Africa in Wellington on Saturday.

- REUTERS