{"id":1058503,"date":"2026-06-29T23:55:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T23:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1058503\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T23:55:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T23:55:16","slug":"australia-legend-keen-to-make-wallabies-coaching-jump-slams-rugbys-greatest-rivalry-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1058503\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia legend keen to make Wallabies coaching jump, slams Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry decision"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fresh from making history with his Chicago Hounds team in the United States, Chris Latham has declared an ambition to coach the Wallabies.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Australia legend led Chicago to the Major League Rugby Championship without losing a game \u2013 Hounds\u2019 12-0 record making them the first team ever to post an unbeaten MLR season.<\/p>\n

Joe Schmidt steps down as Wallaby head coach after July\u2019s three Nations Championship<\/a> rounds and Les Kiss will take charge on a two-year contract.<\/p>\n

Latham, 50, confirmed he did not throw his hat in the ring for the job this time round but told Planet Rugby: \u201cI\u2019d like to do it in future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Confident<\/p>\n

The 1999 World Cup winner would be a popular choice, after a dashing 78-cap career in which he scored 40 tries \u2013 a number bettered only by David Campese.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a Super Rugby point of view I think \u2013 well, I know \u2013 I\u2019d be very capable,\u201d added Latham, who has a contract with Chicago until the end of the 2027 MLR season. \u201cI know I\u2019d do a very good job.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d also love to get into the [English] Premiership. I loved my time at Worcester. Having that experience of going to the Prem would be awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Latham is a fiercely proud Aussie, as is clear from his reaction to the canning of this year\u2019s Rugby Championship in order that New Zealand and South Africa can go it alone and stage their own four-Test series, billed as \u2018Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very, very disappointing,\u201d he says. \u201cNew Zealand\u2019s at its strongest when Australia\u2019s at its strongest and Australia\u2019s at its strongest when New Zealand\u2019s at its strongest. That\u2019s been the case for as long as I can remember, before I even started playing.<\/p>\n

Christy Doran\u2019s predicted Wallabies team to not only beat Ireland but pave the way for brighter years ahead<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEvery country has its rival, its nemesis, a team they go toe-to-toe with that pushes the boundaries of where they can get to. For us and for New Zealand that\u2019s each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, you can sit there and argue from a New Zealand point of view and a South African point of view that they see it in their own one [rivalry].<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when you put tradition into it, when you put the values of what rugby is about, when you put the cost of what it is to travel, to put games on and things like that, you\u2019ve got to be smart.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, decisions are made from a monetary point of view. But us and New Zealand are the closest neighbours each has got, so it\u2019s sad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

Add the fact that another Super Rugby campaign has come and gone without an Australian<\/a> team winning a play-off game in New Zealand and Latham concedes: \u201cIt\u2019s definitely worrying [a year out from the World Cup].\u201d<\/p>\n

Australia, who have slipped to eighth in the World Rankings, open their Nations Championship campaign against Ireland in Sydney on Saturday before taking on France and Italy.<\/p>\n

They then play a home and away series against Japan before flying to Argentina for two Tests against the other country left high and dry without a Rugby Championship to play.<\/p>\n

Not until the last Sunday in September do the Wallabies get a game with the world champion Springboks. They have to wait until October for a shot at the All Blacks.<\/p>\n

Antoine Dupont to miss Nations Championship after late withdrawal from Fabien Galthi\u00e9\u2019s squad<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to be playing the best,\u201d Latham adds. \u201cYou want to be putting yourself under the maximum amount of pressure leading into World Cups, or any Test matches.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to be firing in your domestic season. You want your best players playing their best rugby. And to do that you\u2019ve got to be playing top quality rugby.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just playing the pool rounds of Super Rugby. Your best rugby is your finals. That\u2019s where the pressure is. That\u2019s where things are at stake and that\u2019s where you learn and grow the most.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, yeah, it is concerning. It\u2019s a big job for the coaching staff of the Wallabies.\u201d<\/p>\n

One day that might be Latham\u2019s professional concern but for now it is Chicago, a team which achieved bonus point wins in every game they played, culminating in a 35-17 defeat of California Legion in last week\u2019s final.<\/p>\n

In only his second season in charge he built a team culture around \u2018The Chicago Outfit\u2019, Al Capone\u2019s infamous crime syndicate that controlled the Windy City in the 1920s.<\/p>\n

Chicago way<\/p>\n

Capone\u2019s mob were \u201cruthless, organised, fiercely loyal to each other operating as one coordinated unit with a common purpose\u201d, explains Marc Stcherbina, the former Northampton and Australia A star turned commentator, who had a front row seat throughout Hounds\u2019 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cLatham didn\u2019t just mention the theme in a pre-season meeting and move on. The players were immersed in it from the moment they arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n

Latham confirmed: \u201cWe had a saying this year \u2013 play the Chicago way. We based it around what it is to be a Chicagoan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is tough and bold with big shoulders: digging in when it\u2019s tough. I love this city, I really do.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a hard city but, jeez, it\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Dan McKellar makes decision on NSW Waratahs future as coaching changes continue<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fresh from making history with his Chicago Hounds team in the United States, Chris Latham has declared an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1058504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4102],"tags":[186,225,90462,12,6875,4151,79,10264,16,15,659,123174],"class_list":["post-1058503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-australia","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-news","tag-premiership","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-super-rugby","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-usa","tag-worcester-warriors"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1058503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1058503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1058503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1058504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1058503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1058503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1058503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}