Rod Latham leaving for Scotland

Press, 9 March 1982, Page 36

Rod Latham leaving for Scotland

By

JOHN BROOKS

An extraordinarily gifted Canterbury all-rounder, Rod Latham, is to give rugby a miss in the coming winter and follow his other sporting love, cricket, in Scotland. He has obtained a playing and coaching contract with the club in Brechin, a town of 7000 people not far from Perth and Aberdeen. Between April 14 and September 9 he will play 24 matches in a league competition under the auspices of the Strathmore Cricket Union, as well as fulfilling a coaching commitment on four nights aweek. Latham was married last week-end to Jeanine Creighton — whose father is the former All Black, John Creighton — and the young couple will leave for Scotland after their honeymoon. A national junior representative at both his chosen sports, Latham attracted attention by playing for Canterbury at senior level in both rugby and cricket while still a teenager. As an adventurous righthand batsman he has helped Lancaster Park win the senior cricket competition and boosted Canterbury’s performances in the Shell series. On the rugby side of things, he will be sorely missed by the Linwood seniors, for whom he has scored 258 points in the last

two seasons, and by Canterbury. As a first five-eighths, he has played 18 games for the province and proved to be a sound anchorman for the back-line.

His reliability as a scorer of dropped goals was becoming a by-word in Christchurch rugby, in two winters he succeeded with 16 “pots” for Linwood and seven for Canterbury.

His impending departure will be another blow for a Canterbury side which will also be shorn of. the services of Graeme Higginson and Gary Barkle.

But Latham has no intention of giving the 15-a-side game away to concentrate his efforts on cricket. His present plans are to return to Christchurch rugby in 1983.