Latham warns not to write Aussies off
FORMER Bath Chronicle rugby writer MIKE TREMLETT, has been surviving a rugby-deprived existence by delving into his personal scrapbook of memories. Here, he recalls two interviews with a pair of the biggest names on the world rugby stage at the time.
ONE-TIME Bath signing target Chris Latham, who turned his back on an offer to come to the Rec in favour of a move to Worcester Warriors after the 2007 Rugby World Cup, talked about his pain at the state of Australian rugby ahead of the 2009 Investec Autumn Series... CHRIS LATHAM is always the first to admit that if his head was separated from his body, the rings in his neck would be green and gold and that very Australian trait made watching the 2009 Tri-nations Series very tough on the 34-yearold former Wallabies full-back.
But the man who won 79 Test caps and notched 40 international tries – a Wallaby Test touchdown tally bettered only by the legendary David Campese - is warning the home nations to under-estimate the Wallabies squad which tours the northern hemisphere next month at their peril.
“Australia will arrive in the northern hemisphere with one target in mind – a northern hemisphere Grand Slam – because it’s not in the Australian psyche as a sporting nation to contemplate anything other than winning every time they step on a pitch,” said Latham.
“That won’t change. The Wallabies’ targets for the tour will still be about winning every one of the four Test matches they will play while they’re here.”
The Aussies finished the 2009 Tri Nations propping up the table behind champions South Africa and New Zealand, who handed the
Wallabies a 33-6 hiding in Wellington in the final match of the series.
That left Robbie Deans’ side with just one win - a 21-6 victory over the Springboks in Brisbane in early September – to show for their efforts.
Australia’s tough tour schedule kicks off with a clash with the All Blacks in Tokyo at the end of this month, followed by dates with England at Twickenham on Saturday November 7, Ireland at Croke Park eight days later, a trip to Murrayfield to play Scotland on Saturday November 21 and Wales in Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium a week later.
Latham, now 34 and back in the thick of the Guinness Premiership action with Worcester Warriors after recovering from a second bout of knee reconstruction surgery, will have other fish to fry while the Wallabies are in Europe.
But he insists any Wallabies squad, even one licking its collective post Tri-nations wounds, will still be no easy touch for England, Scotland, Wales or 2009 RBS 6 Nations Grand Slam champions Ireland.
“The Wallabies have the look of a team very much in a period of transition with a lot of their more experienced characters, the really strong characters of recent years, now making way for younger guys with the future very much in mind,” he added.
“Because of the intensity and physicality of Test rugby, consistency is the most difficult thing to achieve when young players new to international rugby are on a steep learning curve.
“That made the recent Trinations series tough for a group of players finding their feet in test rugby but there were signs that the team was learning as the series went on, despite a disappointing end with back-to-back defeats by the All Blacks.
“I’ve been a bit surprised by the way the Australian media, who don’t usually take prisoners, have commented on Robbie Deans’ way of doing things, especially as recent results have not been what the Aussie rugby public tends to demand.
“The media coverage has been almost philosophical and that suggests that Robbie Deans still has widespread support from the media and the public back in Australia. I think they understand what he is trying to do ”
Latham, a veteran of three Rugby World Cup campaigns in 1999, 2003 and 2007, believes Australian rugby and its followers are taking the long view with one eye already focused firmly on the 2011 competition on the other side of the Tasman Sea.
“I’d expect to see a number of guys in the touring squad grab their chance to make a mark over here through November,” said Latham.
“Matt Giteau has matured into a key figure in the team and a number of younger players, Berrick Barnes for one, are showing signs that they are maturing as Test players.
“I reckon next month’s tour will see the Wallabies come to the northern hemisphere determined to perform well and perform consistently against England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
“Next month’s tour, effectively, marks the start to Australia’s buildup to the next World Cup. That will make the Wallabies’ stubborn streak wider and if they play well, they proved against South Africa recently that they’re still a match for the best sides in the world.”
Latham moved to Worcester in 2008 on a two year contract estimated to be worth £325,000 a year. That made him the second highest wage earner in the English Premiership - former All-blacks tighthead Carl Hayman topped the list.
Latham, who had been strongly linked with a move to Bath Rugby in the summer of 2008, made his Worcester debut in a pre-season friendly against Ulster on August 27 last year.
ON September 2010, 2003 World Cup-winning hooker Steve Thompson scored a consolation try for the newly-christened Yorkshire Carnegie against Bath at Headingley, another element of pay-off for a seven-figure cash gamble... STEVE Thompson is convinced a £500,000 gamble has finally paid off and his injury-interrupted career is now back on track after he burst back on to the Premiership scene last Sunday with a trademark try on his Yorkshire Carnegie debut against Bath at Headingley.
It was the 32-year-old 2003 World Cup-winning England hooker’s first appearance in domestic rugby’s top flight since April 2007 and the former Northampton Saint admitted it felt: “good, really good”.
Already re-established on the England scene and in Martin Johnson’s elite squad in the build-up to the 2011 Rugby World Cup, Thompson insists getting back down to business in the Premiership with Leeds has finally closed the door on the injury hell which saw him forced to hang up his boots in April 2007 with no apparent prospect of ever playing rugby again.
“Just over three years ago, I thought I was never going to be able to do this again and it felt good, really good, to be out there playing Premiership rugby - I really feel as though I’m back, properly back, now,” he said.
Three years ago, Thompson started the 2007/8 season working as a forwards consultant with French club Brive under head coach and former Northampton teammate Olivier Magne after he suffered a neck injury while playing in a Heineken Cup tie for the Saints against Biarritz three months earlier.
Facing the very real prospect of permanent paralysis if he played again, Thompson had already signed a two-year playing contract with Brive and the French club stood by their commitment to him and offered him a berth on their backroom team.
Early on in his spell at Brive, Thompson sought a second opinion from a consultant neurosurgeon in Lyons and, to his surprise, was given the all-clear to resume his career - a step which saw the England and Lions hooker elect to return the £500,000 insurance payout he had received when he quit the game.
He slipped back into rugby with an unheralded appearance off the bench for Brive in a Challenge Cup tie against Connacht in the Stade Municipal on Friday November 9 2007, replacing open-side Jerome Bonvoisin 26 minutes into a 15-6 win for the French club before switching to his more familiar hooker role at half-time.
It was a night he still remembers well.
He recalled: “My weight had gone up to around 21 stones and, while I’d been training, I was coming back a month ahead of schedule. I’d had the medical all-clear and arranged to pay back the insurance pay-out but I wasn’t expecting to play until the December.
“There was an element of gamble about it but when Olivier Magne asked me to go on the bench for the game against Connacht, I was a bit apprehensive but I got through it and what’s happened since is history.
Thompson’s subsequent form with Brive forced him back into the England reckoning in the summer of 2009 and he has since added another seven caps to the 47 international appearances he had under his belt prior to his injury.
Now, back in the Premiership, down to a trim 18 stones and fighting fit again, Thompson is determined to cement his place in Leeds’ side and produce consistent form which will make it impossible for Martin Johnson to leave him out of England’s plans for the forthcoming autumn Tests, the 2011 RBS 6 Nations Championship and the World Cup in New Zealand.
“I had to settle for a seat on the bench against Bath because I had a short pre-season after touring with England in Australia and I’m still getting up to speed to an extent,” said Thompson moments after he snatched Leeds’ consolation try in a 32-16 opening-day defeat by Bath.
“For now and for me, it’s all about winning and keeping my place in the side here and helping Neil Back and Andy Key develop a side which competes consistently well in the Premiership this season and if I do that, the England situation will take care of itself.
“We didn’t do ourselves full justice against Bath because we made too many mistakes, but we’ll work hard to make sure we improve and from my point of view, it’s just great to be back in the Premiership again.”