Chris Latham has achieved most things in rugby but admits he has got some unfinished business to attend to – namely helping Worcester Warriors qualify for the 2010/11 Heineken Cup.
The former Australian full back, who scored 200 points in 79 Tests for the Wallabies, has set himself that target as Worcester prepare for their Amlin Challenge Cup Round 2 contest in Spain against Olympus Rugby XV Madrid on Saturday and bouncing back from their home Round 1 22-17 defeat by Montpellier.
“Playing Heineken Cup rugby is definitely something I have ambitions of wanting to do, and top six in the Premiership would be good,” he said.
“I have played Super 14, I have played Test-match rugby, I have played Premiership and Challenge Cup and, of the opportunities that I’ve had, the Heineken Cup is the only competition that I haven’t been able to play yet.
“Winning games regardless of what competition it is breeds confidence. Confidence is a very hard thing to obtain but, once you’ve got it, winning becomes a habit and becomes very easy.”
Last March Latham suffered a dislocated shoulder and fractured his shoulder blade in the Guinness Premiership win over Gloucester but now reports a clean bill of health.
“I hope to give the fans and the club more than I gave them last year,” he said. “I still got in 20 games, and that’s more than I’m used to playing in a season back home!
“That’s been my nature throughout my career – I’m never happy with my performance regardless of how I play. It’s obvious that I don’t want to get injured but that’s a bit uncontrollable. But the thing I can control is my consistency in my performances and hopefully they can be a lot better for the team.
“And this is an exciting part of the season. To be honest, when we left, we wanted nothing more than just to get home. I had the injury and I was bitterly disappointed with that and I just really wanted to get home.
“We’d planned to go for about eight or nine weeks but after about week six my wife and I both said that we can’t wait to get back home to Worcester now. Coming back, it’s felt for the first time like here is home and we feel comfortable – that’s been the good thing about going back to Australia.
“And pre-season was awesome, I really enjoyed it. For some people, it could be interpreted as being an easy pre-season because it’s been enjoyable but by no means has it been easy. The things that we’ve done, we’ve brought the enjoyment back into.
“We’ve worked harder than we’ve probably ever worked but, because of the enjoyment, it has felt easy, and, at the end of it, you didn’t mind doing it. The squad’s in a great place.
“People can pull negatives from us not bringing too many players in – they can say we should have bolstered here or there better – but when you bring in a lot of players there’s that transitional period of finding a niche within the group.
“I remember when we first walked in for pre-season, we just kicked-off where we ended last season. For me, it was nice to walk in and hear all the banter and be back to the norm.
“I thought I was going to have some lingering issues and that I wouldn’t get my strength back, but it’s all returned and everything’s good.”