THE WORLD'S BEST FULL BACK

Chris Latham is one of modern day rugby's most dynamic ball runners. With sublime ball skills, prodigious kicking style, lightning speed and the uncanny ability to pick the smallest of gaps to run through, the opportunistic Latham can turn the course of a match within the blink of an eye.

This was highlighted never more so than by the record 21-second try he scored against the ACT Brumbies in atrocious conditions at Ballymore in Brisbane, in the 2003 Super 12 season. Latham also scored a record five tries against Namibia in Adelaide during the 2003 World Cup. He rates this as his most memorable rugby moment.

Voted Tooheys New Australian Super 12 Player of the Year for a record fourth time in six years in 2005, Chris also won the Pilecki Medal for the Reds Player of the Year in four of the last seven years.

He has played more than 50 tests for Australia.

Chris set two new records in 2003, with the fastest try in Super 12 (21 seconds against the Brumbies) and a remarkable five tries in one game for the Wallabies against Namibia in the World Cup.

A truly gifted ball runner, Latham has the ability to turn a game. In the Super 12 for the Queensland Reds he is a consistent high quality performer and has also picked up the Australian Super 12 Player of the Year Award for the last three seasons as well as in 2000.

This year he was again one of the Reds' best. He produced another man-of-the-match performance at Twickenham, this time for the South against North in the IRB Rugby Aid Match, which included scoring two tries.

Originally from the northern NSW country town of Narrabri, Latham was raised as a soccer player and it wasn't until he was 18 that he first played rugby. He moved to Sydney in 1994 to join the Randwick club and made his debut for NSW in 1997.