Wales not dead yet – Hook (From Campaign Series)

Wales not dead yet – Hook

10:45am Monday 8th February 2010

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ALL is not lost insists James Hook despite Wales’ 30-17 defeat by England at Twickenham on Saturday which got their Six Nations campaign off to a bad start.

Hook was Wales’ man-of-the-match despite making his first start at outside centre in his fourth different position, scoring a glorious individual try to spark Welsh hopes of their second successive Twickenham comeback victory after they trailed 20-3 at one stage.

But Wales paid the ultimate price for having lock Alun Wyn Jones yellow carded for tripping England hooker Dylan Hartley, conceding a decisive 17 points in the time he was off.

Gatland called the incident “stupid” while fellow coach Shaun Edwards said he told the player he hoped such a thing would never happen again.

Gatland also admitted consideration would be given to the player being dropped for Saturday’s home game against Scotland, though they would look at the video of the incident first.

But Hook refused to be downcast, saying, “Scotland will be massive for us. If we beat them and France at home after that who knows where we’ll stand? It’s not dead and buried by any means.

“I felt really confident with the ball in my hands and it was our own errors which cost us because England were not necessarily the better side. We didn’t quite get back from being 17 points down and we played really well after that which we will take into the Scotland game.”

Gatland, though admitting to being frustrated and disappointed, remains relatively upbeat for the rest of the championship: “You will see a really positive reaction,” he said. “It’s disappointing after we stressed how important discipline was and giving nothing soft away – that will be the message for next week.

“If we go out and be as accurate as we can be we can give a very effective performance.” Gatland names his team to face Scotland tomorrow and could well make several changes.

The players under most pressure will be backs Gareth Cooper and Tom James and forwards Gareth Williams, Luke Charteris, Wyn Jones and Andy Powell.

Wales are waiting for fitness reports today on front row pair Gethin Jenkins and Gareth Rees, late withdrawals against England with calf and groin injuries, respectively.

Scrum half Mike Phillips is due to play for Swansea in the Welsh Premiership after being out all season with a major knee injury, though he may not return for Wales until next month’s games against Ireland and Italy.

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