Defiant Wallaby fullback Chris Latham has vowed to show rugby powerbrokers his best years are yet to come after quitting the Australian game to play out his career at cashed-up English club Worcester.
Latham this afternoon confirmed he had signed a three-year contract with the Warriors but disputed the $2 million figure reported in newspapers, insisting he hadn't followed the cash trail after a series of negotiations with the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) collapsed.
The 78-Test veteran said he was not bitter with the ARU but made it clear he was disappointed at the offer tabled to keep him in Queensland Reds and Wallaby colours, one which would have seen him play for less than his current package.
After months of all-consuming deliberations that weighed heavily on his family life, Latham rejected an incentive-based, two-year contract extension recently pitched by ARU high-performance manager Pat Howard.
"The offer was incentive based and I really didn't think given the position where I sat, I didn't think I needed incentives to play rugby. I never have," Latham said.
Instead the 32-year-old will link with Worcester at the end of the 2008 Super 14 season, with his final match for his beloved Reds a fairytale derby fixture against the Waratahs on May 17 at Suncorp Stadium.
The script is written for a dramatic Wallaby farewell at the same stadium in September when the Wallabies host the All Blacks in a Tri Nations finale.
Latham, the second-all-time leading Wallaby try-scorer with 40 behind David Campese, said the ARU believed he wasn't a long-term proposition after he missed the entire 2007 Super 14 campaign with a knee injury.
Complete article