Australia

Former Wallaby star Ben Tune was cleared of serious injury on Sunday and released from hospital after a crash during a weekend motor race.

Tune spent the night in a Perth hospital undergoing tests after rolling his car during the Mini Challenge - a support category to the V8 Supercar championship.

The 31-year-old Tune complained of back pain immediately after the accident at Barbagallo Raceway, but scans and tests gave him the all-clear and he was allowed to leave hospital.

Tune, a member of Australia's 1999 World Cup-winning team, was in pain but hadn't lost his sense of humour.

"I am not too bad now, I have some soreness and stiffness and generally feel like, I guess, I have been in a car crash ... funnily enough," he said.

"I thought if I did motor sport the car would get most of the damage.

"It was just inexperience and putting an ex-footballer on a track when he is out of his depth."

Tune lost control of his car during the race, flipping the Mini before the car came to rest on its roof.

It took a rescue team 20 minutes to extract Tune before he was placed in a neck brace and on a spinal board. He was taken by ambulance to a local hospital for treatment, then to a second hospital to spend the night under observation.

Tune, an outside back, played 46 tests for Australia and scored 24 tries, including the match-winning try in the 1999 Rugby World Cup Final.

SAPA