Wallabies Legend Set To Come Out Of Retirement

Legendary fullback Chris Latham will don the Reds jersey one more time after Queensland Reds head coach Nick Stiles unveiled him as his Wildcard pick for the Brisbane Global Rugby Tens tournament.

The 117-capped Queensland Red, who was once a team-mate of Stiles’, has been drafted in to add experience to the Reds squad for the two-day tournament, which takes place at Suncorp Stadium on February 11-12 next year.

Latham made his Wallabies debut in 1998 against France at the Stade de France in Paris. He went on to win 78 Test caps, 68 as a starter, crossing for 40 tries along the way. He is the second highest try scorer in Wallaby history, behind David Campese.

“One of the great concepts with this 10-a-side tournament is you can bring in a marquee – a former player – and Chris Latham loved playing in front of his Queensland fans.” Stiles said

“He was an exciting footballer and he’s still in great shape. He’ll make a genuine impact for us and I’m sure the Queensland public will get right behind him and be rapt to see him in a Reds jersey again.”

Latham, who represented Queensland for a decade between 1998-2008 and retired from professional rugby in 2012, said:

“I’m very humbled and honoured to be given this opportunity to come back into the Queensland family for the Brisbane Tens. I only realised how much I cherished wearing that Queensland jersey once I’d retired and I’m looking forward to passing on my experience and explaining to the younger generation coming through how much that jersey means to me. I won’t let that jersey down.

“I started coaching in Japan once I retired from playing and I love to keep fit and to show the guys by example what I expect from them on the field. I love running around with the boys at NTT Docomo In Japan at training. I look forward to the sessions when the boys are one man short so I can train with them.”

Latham won the ‘Australian Super 12 Player of the Year’ on four occasions (2000, 2003, 2004 and 2005) and he holds the record for the fastest try in Super 12 history.