Chris Latham's end of season departure from Worcester Warriors is the best thing that has happened to the club since...well since the news was announced that Chris Latham was joining the club. Sounds contradictory? It isn't.
When Latham arrived in late August 2008 he was a symbol of Worcester's progress, ambition and success to that point. Having survived by the skin of their teeth the previous 3 premiership campaigns Worcester were again perilously near the drop in the 2007-8 season. Without a win before Christmas the club were staring over the edge. Varying levels of All Black experience had come to Sixways in the shape of Rico Gear, Greg Rawlinson and Sam Tuitupou all on good money. Whilst the ambitious East Stand complex and infrastructure projects on Pershore Lane were already well under way, again at great expense. If the club had faltered, the fall would have been even more cataclysmic than the rise. As it was the Warriors embarked on a fantastic second half of the season run, which saw them pick up 6 wins and a draw out their final 12 fixtures; including home wins over end of season table toppers Gloucester, and beaten Grand Finalists Leicester. Coupled with this relatively comfortable survival Worcester reached the Challenge Cup Final, where they lost out to Bath. The resurgence on the pitch seemed to be mirrored off it. The new stand was completed in 2008 holding 6,000 supporters and extra corporate spaces for increased revenues. Former Welsh U21 grand slam winning stand-off Matthew Jones arrived and, of course, the man described as "the best full-back in the world". It seemed the blend of promising talent and experienced international quality on the field and the opportunity for increased revenues off it meant that 2008-9 would be the year the Warriors took the next step in becoming a Premiership influence.
When Latham arrived in late August 2008 he was a symbol of Worcester's progress, ambition and success to that point. Having survived by the skin of their teeth the previous 3 premiership campaigns Worcester were again perilously near the drop in the 2007-8 season. Without a win before Christmas the club were staring over the edge. Varying levels of All Black experience had come to Sixways in the shape of Rico Gear, Greg Rawlinson and Sam Tuitupou all on good money. Whilst the ambitious East Stand complex and infrastructure projects on Pershore Lane were already well under way, again at great expense. If the club had faltered, the fall would have been even more cataclysmic than the rise. As it was the Warriors embarked on a fantastic second half of the season run, which saw them pick up 6 wins and a draw out their final 12 fixtures; including home wins over end of season table toppers Gloucester, and beaten Grand Finalists Leicester. Coupled with this relatively comfortable survival Worcester reached the Challenge Cup Final, where they lost out to Bath. The resurgence on the pitch seemed to be mirrored off it. The new stand was completed in 2008 holding 6,000 supporters and extra corporate spaces for increased revenues. Former Welsh U21 grand slam winning stand-off Matthew Jones arrived and, of course, the man described as "the best full-back in the world". It seemed the blend of promising talent and experienced international quality on the field and the opportunity for increased revenues off it meant that 2008-9 would be the year the Warriors took the next step in becoming a Premiership influence.
In spite of all the optimism, this wasn't to be the case. Injuries and what transpired to be poor pieces of business confounded Warriors shaky form. They once again scraped to survival, in spite of taking an absolute pasting at the Memorial Ground against the eventually relegated Bristol. Latham personally played amicably scoring 42 in 20 appearances, but it quickly became apparent that the team had been constructed backwards and with too many risks and reliance’s. Two of Worcester's most influential and highly paid players, Latham and Gear, were for large swathes of games irrelevant owing to the ineptitude of their half backs and lack of go forward in the back row. Offensively the midfield was stodgy and one dimensional and in spite of a good platform the team lacked creativity, clueless as to how best to get the flair players in to the game. To say the side defensively was porous is an understatement.
This season has followed a similar pattern. For all the obvious aesthetic improvements, the rugby still is not winning rugby. The same problems at half back, back row ball carrying and phase retention still persist. In spite of Latham playing in all but one of the Warriors league games this season, the side are not difficult to locate in the standings, sitting, as they perennially do, second bottom. Latham hasn't contributed a point yet. Whether it's an inability of those inside him to create the space or provide the right passes, whether he's a marked man or whether simply
some of the zip has gone in those 32 year old legs Latham's contribution to Worcester on the field has continued on a downward trend. Blasphemous though it may be to the Sixways faithful who have turned him in to a cult hero over the past two seasons, Luke Rooney is an immediate improvement at full back.
Standing at 6ft 3in Rooney is impressively physical, solid under the high ball and amazingly experienced across both codes for a 26 year old. He picks lovely lines in the middle of the field and his power helps exploit these in to gain line advantages. His physicality is matched by pace to burn but his most impressive asset is his finishing. The guy is absolutely ruthless. 6 tries in 6 test matches as a Rugby League Kangaroo(including the marvel of malleability that was his last gasp winner against Great Britain in the 2004 Tri-Nations series at Eastland’s), and a regular on canal+ top ten tries of the week show for the French Top 14, Rooney's pedigree should strike fear in to Premiership defences. Pace and power in an outside back has often lead to a lack of imagination in their attacking play but Rooney does not succumb to this laziness. A wonderful 'in-to-out' move particularly off his right foot is perhaps the prize asset in his attacking wares. Age-wise he should be coming in to his peak, and having made no secret of his ambitions to become an England international (he holds a British passport) Rooney has the complete package; hunger, talent, pedigree and even some untapped potential.
The Latham experiment should be applauded. After failures to attract previously linked high profile players (such as Stephen Larkham), Latham proved Worcester could attract the highest profile players. His statement signing took Worcester to a new level in this regard but the step was not significant enough. Worcester must capitalize on what they did right in attracting Latham; and ensnare one of the marquee names such as James Hook and Mike Blair that are being bandied around as potential additions. They must also learn on what they did wrong, and address the team properly, front to back. There is no point having the finishers and the game plan in place to suit them, if you don't have the players to execute inside them. If they are successful in this then Chris Latham and Luke Rooney will both go down as great chapters in a long term Worcester success story.
This season has followed a similar pattern. For all the obvious aesthetic improvements, the rugby still is not winning rugby. The same problems at half back, back row ball carrying and phase retention still persist. In spite of Latham playing in all but one of the Warriors league games this season, the side are not difficult to locate in the standings, sitting, as they perennially do, second bottom. Latham hasn't contributed a point yet. Whether it's an inability of those inside him to create the space or provide the right passes, whether he's a marked man or whether simply
some of the zip has gone in those 32 year old legs Latham's contribution to Worcester on the field has continued on a downward trend. Blasphemous though it may be to the Sixways faithful who have turned him in to a cult hero over the past two seasons, Luke Rooney is an immediate improvement at full back.Standing at 6ft 3in Rooney is impressively physical, solid under the high ball and amazingly experienced across both codes for a 26 year old. He picks lovely lines in the middle of the field and his power helps exploit these in to gain line advantages. His physicality is matched by pace to burn but his most impressive asset is his finishing. The guy is absolutely ruthless. 6 tries in 6 test matches as a Rugby League Kangaroo(including the marvel of malleability that was his last gasp winner against Great Britain in the 2004 Tri-Nations series at Eastland’s), and a regular on canal+ top ten tries of the week show for the French Top 14, Rooney's pedigree should strike fear in to Premiership defences. Pace and power in an outside back has often lead to a lack of imagination in their attacking play but Rooney does not succumb to this laziness. A wonderful 'in-to-out' move particularly off his right foot is perhaps the prize asset in his attacking wares. Age-wise he should be coming in to his peak, and having made no secret of his ambitions to become an England international (he holds a British passport) Rooney has the complete package; hunger, talent, pedigree and even some untapped potential.
The Latham experiment should be applauded. After failures to attract previously linked high profile players (such as Stephen Larkham), Latham proved Worcester could attract the highest profile players. His statement signing took Worcester to a new level in this regard but the step was not significant enough. Worcester must capitalize on what they did right in attracting Latham; and ensnare one of the marquee names such as James Hook and Mike Blair that are being bandied around as potential additions. They must also learn on what they did wrong, and address the team properly, front to back. There is no point having the finishers and the game plan in place to suit them, if you don't have the players to execute inside them. If they are successful in this then Chris Latham and Luke Rooney will both go down as great chapters in a long term Worcester success story.
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