Australia's Chris Latham reacts to the crowd after defeating Wales. Photo / Reuters
CARDIFF - Chris Latham is quickly re-writing the history that suggests he and rugby World Cups don't mix.
A virus-hit Latham scored two crowd-pumping tries in a man-of-the-match performance that iced the Wallabies' vital 32-20 win over Wales at Millennium Stadium.
It took his World Cup try tally
to a remarkable 10 from just four matches to equal the Australian record held by wing great David Campese.
Although Campese played almost four times as many games (15), Latham was more pleased by his efforts in just playing successive World Cup matches.
"I'm just happy to break that hoodoo and get two in a row," the 32-year-old said.
Latham played just one match in his previous two campaigns as he played second fiddle to Matt Burke in 1999 and Mat Rogers in 2003.
He made an impact in both matches, scoring a try on his tournament debut against USA in '99 and crossed for a national record five against Namibia in '03.
But the Queenslander has been motivated for the past four years to make the 2007 tournament his own and so far, it's so good.
Latham's two against Japan last week, and two versus Wales, underlined how quickly he has returned to top fitness and peak form after a knee reconstruction.
The surgery seems a distant memory for the Wallabies who know his huge left boot, attacking heroics and safe defence are crucial to their campaign.
With Wales on song midway through the second half after clawing back from 25-3 down to 25-13, Latham produced the play that ensured a full five competition points for Australia.
Latching on to an astray Kevin Morgan kick, he booted the ball high but was unhappy with the execution as it sailed too far.
The 75-test veteran followed through at speed anyway and was rewarded when Stephen Jones fumbled, allowing Latham to scoop up the half-volley to run 30-metres and score.
"I always think there might be a chance I could get (to each high kick) but I must admit there was no hope in hell I thought that was coming back to me," he said.
"Sometimes the worst kicks are the hardest to catch and that was floating back to him."
The try also lifted him into the top 10 of international try-scorers with 39.
Latham is joint third in the list of World Cup try-scorers behind only Jonah Lomu (15) and Rory Underwood (11).
His first showed different skills, taking an inside ball from Drew Mitchell metres from the sideline and proving too powerful for a wave of cover defence to score near the left corner.
- AAP
