Latham played with fractured ribs

[Danny]

Very interesting story with Chris Latham:

General story is he sustained a rib cartilage injury playing for Australia in the commonwealth games, he had a scan which actually showed unrelated (previous) fractures in two ribs. He has been playing with these fractured ribs since round two of the Super 14 competition.

Chris Latham out for up to six weeks
SMH
March 17, 2006 - 9:25PM

Wallabies fullback Chris Latham discovered he had played for the past month with two broken ribs after suffering an unrelated rib cartilage injury which may sideline him for six weeks.

Latham injured his cartilage at the end of Thursday night's Commonwealth Games sevens pool loss to England and further aggravated it early in Friday's quarter-final against South Africa.

Medical staff have told him he may be out for up until round 12 of the Super 14 but he still intends playing some part on Queensland's three-match tour of South Africa, starting next weekend against the Cheetahs.

It is a major blow for Queensland coach Jeff Miller who must now reshuffle his already thin stocks of outside backs by moving Drew Mitchell from the wing to fullback.

Latham first became aware of the original rib problem when he was playing with his daughter at home two days after the Reds' round two Super 14 loss to the Crusaders.

However it was only diagnosed as fractures when he had x-rays for the cartilage problem.

"I've had a slight problem there for the last few weeks and it's been manageable but I did the rib cartilage against England," he said.

Latham was the star player for Australia in the sevens and coach Glen Ella admitted his team missed him dearly in the 21-19 semi-final loss to New Zealand.

"We certainly needed him there today," Ella said.

"In that tough situation a guy that's been under that type of pressure can keep the composure."

The 59-Test veteran will not fly back to Brisbane from Melbourne until Sunday.

The Reds fly to South Africa on Saturday.

© 2006 AAP

[Nicholas]

That is a very tough effort as fractured ribs are very painful injuries however they usually aren't serious.