Chris Latham (born 8 September 1975) is an Australian

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

coach and former player. He is currently head coach of

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR) is a professional rugby union competition in the United States. The league comprises 11 teams. While operating outside of the governance and oversight of the national governing body, the league is officially sanctioned ...

team the Chicago Hounds and was previously head coach of the Utah Warriors. Latham played for the Queensland Reds and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

between 1998 and 2007, earning 78 international caps, before signing with Worcester Warriors in England and later Japanese club Kyuden Voltex. He is the second-highest try scorer in Wallaby history with 40 international tries, behind only

David Campese David Ian Campese, AM (; born 21 October 1962), also known as Campo, is a former Australian rugby union player (1982–1996), who was capped by the Wallabies 101 times, and played 85 Tests at wing and 16 at fullback. He retired in 1996 and ...

Career

Latham began began his career playing at the Wests Bulldogs club in Brisbane before signing a

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

contract with the

New South Wales Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), often referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team based in Sydney that represents the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby Pacific competition. The Waratahs play t ...

. He moved to the Queensland Reds in 1998 and cemented his place as a starting No. 15. He went on to become the first player to win the Australian Super Rugby Player of the Year award four times (2000, 2003, 2004, 2005). Latham made his international debut against

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on the 1998 spring tour and represented the Wallabies at three Rugby World Cups in

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

and

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

. At the 2003 tournament, he racked up an Australian record five-try haul against Namibia in Adelaide. At the Northern Hemisphere v Southern Hemisphere Tsunami Relief match held at

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in March 2005, he scored two tries and was named man of the match. The following March, he represented the Australia Sevens team at the

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, but his campaign was cut short when he suffered a rib injury. On 12 September 2006, he became the first backline player to be awarded the John Eales Medal and was later nominated by the

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for Player of the Year, losing out to New Zealand's

Richie McCaw Richard Hugh McCaw (born 31 December 1980) is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player. He captain (sports), captained the New Zealand national rugby union team, New Zealand national team, the All Blacks, in 110 out of his 148 t ...

. Latham suffered misfortune in early 2007 when he tore his

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...

in pre-season training with the Queensland Reds but managed to return for his third

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

in October that year. After a frustrating end to 2007 and start to the 2008 Super Rugby season where he battled a knee injury his representative career in Australia came to an untimely close in his return match against the Crusaders. In what should have been his penultimate appearance for the Queensland Reds, he ruptured his pectoral muscle 13 minutes into the game, drawing an end to his playing days on Australian soil, as he had already announced a move to Worcester for the following two seasons. After leaving Worcester, he joined Kyuden Voltex, a second-division club in Japan, on a two-year contract. He was also involved in skills training and backs coaching at Kyuden, and helped them win promotion to the top division for 2012–13 before retiring in 2012. Stephen Jones, chief rugby correspondent for ''

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'' and ''

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'', rated Latham as the finest fullback he has ever seen.

Career

References

External links