Australia full-back Chris Latham believes the Wallabies have an excellent chance of winning the World Cup, which begins in France next month.
Latham, who has made a remarkable recovery after ripping his anterior cruciate ligament in pre-season training with the Queensland Reds in January this year, said the current Australia team has showed in the past six months that it can compete against the best rugby nations in the world.
"We are going over there with a great belief that we can win it," Latham said.
"We have been building quite nicely over the year – our performances have shown that, we have had some pretty good results."
Latham, who is regarded as one of the premier full-backs in the world, missed the entire Super 14 season with the Reds but has been working his way back to full fitness with the Wallabies and the East Coast Aces in the Australian Rugby Championship over the past month.
And while Latham continued his recovery with a workmanlike performance for the Aces in their narrow 26-20 loss to the Melbourne Rebels on Saturday night, the 31-year-old claimed he is looking forward to joining his Australia team-mates in Sydney, before heading to Portugal for another camp en route to France.
"I am looking forward to it, I can’t wait," Latham said. "It is just a matter of getting to Sydney and starting to build in this camp, then getting to Portugal, continuing that build-up once again, and then getting amongst it, September 8 versus Japan."
