a few friends to lift his spirits, Andrew Beek yesterday admitted from his hospital bed that he has decided to quit rugby.

The 27-year-old Canadian ends his short playing career with Mariners -- a decision which has obviously been influenced by his close brush with what could have been a devastating injury during a Second XV's match against Teachers on Saturday.

Beek fractured the second vertebrae of his neck after a scrum collapsed on top of him with less than 10 minutes remaining in the game, but the prognosis of him making a complete recovery is good.

A day after surgery, Beek spoke with delight of being able to walk in complete comfort even with the `halo', but doctors have discouraged him from becoming too active on the King Edward Memorial Hospital's Cooper Ward.

"I enjoyed the sport, but I just feel that the injury is a sign that if you get seriously injured or something. ..you should keep away from the sport.

"So rugby is going to be one of these things on my list,'' confided Beek.

He made no secret that the period between Saturday and Tuesday was the most "difficult'' of his life, but it was due mostly the chain of events rather than the actual injury.

After being taken to hospital and subsequently permitted to go home on Saturday night after x-rays apparently were negative, Beek was greeted with startling news on Monday morning when he was contacted by the hospital. The computer programmer for Cooper & Lines was told that after closer examination, a break had been spotted on the x-ray.

"I was terrified when I got the news,'' said Beek, who had been fully appraised of how the initial x-ray had not shown a break. Despite the new diagnosis, Beek did not appear to be dissatisfied with doctors or x-ray technicians when he was taken to hospital by ambulance on Monday.

While saying that he preferred to reserve comments on the matter, the player is pleased with the progress he is making and noted he had suffered no additional pain since the incident.

"I probably will be released before the weekend,'' he said. "There is nothing left to be done in hospital besides getting used to the mechanics of how to walk around with the unit on my head and controlling my centre of gravity.

"I expect to be back to work in about two weeks, but I expect to continue wearing the unit for another six weeks.'' Recalling the mishap, Beek said: "During the scrum at our end I was playing open-side prop and I didn't position myself properly during the scrum causing it to collapse on me. At that point my head hit the ground. There were three cracking noises that everyone in the scrum heard, they all piled on and I was left laying on the ground with my head twisted.

"I was in a considerable amount of pain before I moved myself up into a sitting position, but the pain went away immediately. I understand now how it was luck for me to have broken it where I did.'' Beek indeed breathed a heavy sigh of relief since there are no physical problems. "There are no symptoms to indicate paralysis or numbness, headaches or anything like that. Even my temperature and blood pressure, well, everything is normal.'' The fact that he has been declared free of any real serious injury is also a relief for his parents, Ken and Gloria, who arrived in Bermuda on Tuesday from Ottawa after learning their son had been admitted to hospital.

ANDREW BEEK -- "I was in a considerable amount of pain...I understand how it was luck for me to have broken it where I did.''