Latham goes from ugly duckling to a stunning swan

By WYNNE GRAY

There has always been something of the ugly duckling about Chris Latham's rugby style. But now he has matured into one of the best fullbacks in the game.

His dazzling runs for the Reds during the Super 12 won them several games that they had little right to win, and his individual genius was a huge part of their run to the playoffs.

Same against France, where his incision from the back, safety under the high ball and huge raking punts helped to make firm statements for the Wallabies.

There is still some amusement about Latham's style - that running gait with his chopped stride and flicking, flailing legs reminiscent of John Cleese - and his unique drop-punt kicking methods.

Latham is a self-made rugby product, a country boy who played only soccer until his late teens, but who has made such a successful transition to rugby that he has forced another Wallaby champion, Matthew Burke, to shift places.

It has been a fascinating progression, a nine-year career in rugby which has Latham, at 26, primed for a decent stint at the top.

Last month when his rugby duties allowed, he was a regular viewer of World Cup soccer matches, his attention caught by the genius of the ball-playing Brazilians such as Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho.

Soccer was the game Latham played from the time he was five, as he grew up in the northern New South Wales town of Narrabri, until he was 17 when he still had ambitions to be a professional soccer player. His idols then were Pele and Maradona, anyone with the No 10 shirt, as he tried to emulate their skills.

His transition to rugby, like much of his subsequent career, owed a lot to a combination of his talents, timing and old-fashioned good fortune.

"It sort of fell into my hands," Latham recalled. "I was at high school and a team was going to play a rugby game in Sydney and someone asked me if I would play fullback. I just said I'd have a go."

Before the game the liaison officers took down all the players' names and circulated them to rugby clubs round Sydney in case they wanted to bolster their ranks.

Latham went home to study for his HSC exams and to find a job. He had no thoughts of playing any more rugby.

"But just before the exams I got a call asking if I would like to go and trial with Randwick," he said.

A job was arranged for Latham as an apprentice mechanic and he began playing in the famous Randwick green strip in their colts grade.

"Their rugby was just the way I wanted to play. John Maxwell [the coach] banned me from kicking the ball, so I just ran it everywhere. David Campese was there and he gave me some great hints.

"There was a philosophy there that if we were going to lose a game we may as well lose it by having a go, and that was the way I wanted to play."

Latham graduated to the Waratahs strip, but some of the team strategies, which pandered to Campese, brought him some disillusion.

Campese was nearing the end of his magical career and coach Matt Williams tried to protect him by using him solely on the blind wing. That meant Latham, on the other wing, had to roam the field to suit Campese's positioning.

"As a young player then I was underdone with rugby maturity and did not cope too well, I lacked confidence because of all the shuffling."

Latham's passion to play fullback and the influence of his Brisbane girlfriend Michelle, now his wife, took him north to the Reds in 1998. He is a confirmed Queenslander, so parochial that during the usual bitter interstate Super 12 battle with the Waratahs this year, he proclaimed that the border had shifted and Narrabri was now part of Queensland.

"Some of them did not see the funny side of that, but it was all tongue-in-cheek and part of the paper talk which precedes these games. It is all about rivalry and emotion."

It was also about victory and Latham laughed last, scoring a try in the Reds' 31-24 win. He has also been doing that for the Wallabies and, under new coach Eddie Jones, believes he has been given the right freedom of expression.

Latham's skill has meant no alternative for the selectors. Burke has been switched to the centres or wing. His goalkicking gifts are still required, but the Wallabies look no further now than Latham to wear the No 15 jersey. They acknowledge his extra training - hours and hours of practising kicking techniques - and gently roast him about the exuberance he shows on the field.

"Sometimes I wish I did not show my emotions quite so much and I cop a bit of flak from the boys about it," he said. "I have been criticised for the way I react when I score tries, but it is not putting down the opposition, it is all about my excitement."

Latham has plenty of that emotion ready for today in Christchurch as the Tri-Nations series begins again.

"These are games where everyone lifts, they are great personal challenges, they are the tests where players put a measure on themselves.

"Mentally, everyone has to move and that is how these games are won. If one person is not switched on as much as the other 29, that can be the difference. But we are confident."

So the Wallabies by how many?

"Australia by five," Latham predicts, "I will put myself down for the difference with a try ... I hope."