Gatland misses Great Opportunity

With 20-25 minutes left v Italy and the game virtually won (as Italy could still be out there and not score a try) why oh why did Gatland not give Hook a run at 10 with Priestland struggling for form. Hook has often been criticised for struggling on the back foot but at the moment the welsh 8 can generally match most packs and it would have been interesting to say the least to see Hook being given a chance with the game degenerating into broken play - it was almost made for him. Why didn't Gats give him the 10 jersey? Did he think that would have affected Priestlands confidence? I'm a great fan of RP but Hook must be given a fair crack here and this was the ideal opportunity that was missed - your thoughts?

Maybe one interception pass too many - too big a risk against the one six nations team (France) that would take advantage of risky passes that our boy Hook seems to specialise in.

Agreed, it's strange. If RP crumbles against French pressure, he'll have to come off. In this 6N, Hook has played 2 halves and a cameo at 15, where he hasn't played at club level for years. Presumably, though, they've been through all the options in training.

He was backing his man and showing he had faith in him. Giving Preistland a chance. I think if the W had been in doubt he may have put Hook at 10.

It must be frustarting for Hook, but he has let down Wales in the past to lose the shirt. The question now is does Gatland continue to back Preistland after giving him that chance? Its a tough call.

The worry from a Scarlets perspective is that we have always known about the inconsistent nature of his game. Before the World Cup warm ups, it was a lottery which Rhys Priestland would show up for the Scarlets. His talent is a rare one but in the past few seasons at regional level, his fragile confidence has been a constant flip side. What if he has had his purple patch at RWC2011 and has reverted to the flaky but talented individual we are more used to. It's a bad time to put it to the test with a GS to be won.

I made this point since the game. I understand why he didn't bring Hook on, similar to the England game, he doesn't want Preistland to think he doesn't trust him. But I would have definately given Hook a run out.

So Weybridge according to you we have a choice betwen the Risky Pass Hook and the Flaky Priestland. I tend to think both are extremely talented players and Gatland should have given Hook the 10 jersey with 25 to go - Could he have done any worse that RP?, I don't think so. RP knows he's playing poorly and taking him off would have shown him that Gatland needs him to play better. Missed opportunity for me and if not then Why is Hook on the bench? - We could have Byrne as a proper FB back up instead of someone warming the bench and coming on out of position. Missed opportunity for me

The point I am making is that neither is ideal and this grand slam attempt is different from the other two in that the whole of Wales including the coaching team I am sure, is worried at the lack of commanding presence from any candidate at 10. In 2005, Jonesey was nailed on solid presence at 10 and in 2008 we had two in form reliable 10s which were successfully rotated without any worries. The talent is there now but there is little confidence in either of them right now.

I'm not sure where all this 'Priestland played awful' is coming from, from my position in the stands he kicked out of hand well, he distributed to JD2 and Roberts well but was pressurised and wasn't given the space to make any breaks himself, however he did create a few overlaps/linebreaks himself by drawing the man/men before passing flatly for the supporting players to run onto.

I can understand why Gats didn't bring Hook on, 1. As Priestland was doing a decent job and is going to be out starting FH against France, keep faith in him. 2. Hook can either be very good or totally awful, so it would have been a risk bringing him on, particularly against a physical, pressing Italian side - he may well have been pressured and just chucked a hospital pass/interception pass to a centre as side stepped and created a break,

Smirnoffpriest wrote:I'm not sure where all this 'Priestland played awful' is coming from, from my position in the stands he kicked out of hand well, he distributed to JD2 and Roberts well but was pressurised and wasn't given the space to make any breaks himself, however he did create a few overlaps/linebreaks himself by drawing the man/men before passing flatly for the supporting players to run onto.

I can understand why Gats didn't bring Hook on, 1. As Priestland was doing a decent job and is going to be out starting FH against France, keep faith in him. 2. Hook can either be very good or totally awful, so it would have been a risk bringing him on, particularly against a physical, pressing Italian side - he may well have been pressured and just chucked a hospital pass/interception pass to a centre as side stepped and created a break,

You need to get a better seat in the stands

Gotta say MP looks to have regressed a bit too. Sometimes he strolls around with the ball as if he's taking the dog for a walk. Webb injected some pace when he came on. We've tried 3 or 4 alternatives for Mike in recent years but for one reason or another none of them has nailed it down.

The reason they haven't nailed it down is beacuse Phillips just comes back and plays the beast, he needed some support with his breaks and he had little, Falatau hasn't showed up yet and we missed Warburton for all of Tipurics efforts which were good. Hook should have been given a chance IMO

And to be honest looking down the list of the alternatives to Mike you can see why.

Dwayne Peel has been very unlucky with injuries, hes basically never going to play for Wales again because of his age now.
Gareth Cooper never really impressed in his later years.
Richie Rees was never really good enough.
Tavis Knoyle and Lloyd Williams aren't good enough yet IMO, they don't have good enough decision making skills yet.
And Webby has just come in.

RubyGuby wrote:You need to get a better seat in the stands

My seat was fine thank you.

I also noticed that while Phillips was slow as usual, the defence was also wary of him but when Webb came on, although he speeded up the game and looked sharp, the defence weren't 'held' by watching him at the breakdown and instead just carried on spreading across the pitch. Prob because he doesn't offer as physical a threat as Phillips.

Smirnoffpriest wrote:

RubyGuby wrote:You need to get a better seat in the stands

My seat was fine thank you.

I also noticed that while Phillips was slow as usual, the defence was also wary of him but when Webb came on, although he speeded up the game and looked sharp, the defence weren't 'held' by watching him at the breakdown and instead just carried on spreading across the pitch. Prob because he doesn't offer as physical a threat as Phillips.

Smirnoffpriest wrote:I'm not sure where all this 'Priestland played awful' is coming from, from my position in the stands he kicked out of hand well, he distributed to JD2 and Roberts well but was pressurised and wasn't given the space to make any breaks himself, however he did create a few overlaps/linebreaks himself by drawing the man/men before passing flatly for the supporting players to run onto.

I can understand why Gats didn't bring Hook on, 1. As Priestland was doing a decent job and is going to be out starting FH against France, keep faith in him. 2. Hook can either be very good or totally awful, so it would have been a risk bringing him on, particularly against a physical, pressing Italian side - he may well have been pressured and just chucked a hospital pass/interception pass to a centre as side stepped and created a break,

+1

I have said numerous times that the Italians had a gameplan of smoothering him and they did it well. Considering that, i thought that he had a very reasonable game.

Priestland had a decent enough game but this was still an opportunity lost IMO -

Hook didn't look too happy when he came on at full back on Saturday and you can understand why: Gatland was saying before the tournament began that he would be considering Hook as an outside half, but here he was again coming on out of position.

RubyGuby wrote:With 20-25 minutes left v Italy and the game virtually won (as Italy could still be out there and not score a try) why oh why did Gatland not give Hook a run at 10 with Priestland struggling for form. Hook has often been criticised for struggling on the back foot but at the moment the welsh 8 can generally match most packs and it would have been interesting to say the least to see Hook being given a chance with the game degenerating into broken play - it was almost made for him. Why didn't Gats give him the 10 jersey? Did he think that would have affected Priestlands confidence? I'm a great fan of RP but Hook must be given a fair crack here and this was the ideal opportunity that was missed - your thoughts?

I am more surprised that Hook is still in the squad. All the young 10's in Wales must be wondering exactly how crap does Hook have to be before they get a go. Hook is not a 10 and unless Priestland was shot through the head by a sniper I would not be happy to see Hook move more than 12 inches from the bench or ideally his sofa at home. This guy has had plenty of chances in recent years and blown them all. Every coach who has ever had him has taken a look and thought Hooky at 10 Naah. He is a decent outside centre but that boat has sailed. Hook is our version of Darcy had a couple of good games and lived off them ever since

The trick Gatland is missing is developing decent cover at 10 over the next 2-5 years. Hook is not the answer and in hindsight never was. Just my opinion of course

dragonbreath wrote:

RubyGuby wrote:With 20-25 minutes left v Italy and the game virtually won (as Italy could still be out there and not score a try) why oh why did Gatland not give Hook a run at 10 with Priestland struggling for form. Hook has often been criticised for struggling on the back foot but at the moment the welsh 8 can generally match most packs and it would have been interesting to say the least to see Hook being given a chance with the game degenerating into broken play - it was almost made for him. Why didn't Gats give him the 10 jersey? Did he think that would have affected Priestlands confidence? I'm a great fan of RP but Hook must be given a fair crack here and this was the ideal opportunity that was missed - your thoughts?

I am more surprised that Hook is still in the squad. All the young 10's in Wales must be wondering exactly how crap does Hook have to be before they get a go. Hook is not a 10 and unless Priestland was shot through the head by a sniper I would not be happy to see Hook move more than 12 inches from the bench or ideally his sofa at home. This guy has had plenty of chances in recent years and blown them all. Every coach who has ever had him has taken a look and thought Hooky at 10 Naah. He is a decent outside centre but that boat has sailed. Hook is our version of Darcy had a couple of good games and lived off them ever since

The trick Gatland is missing is developing decent cover at 10 over the next 2-5 years. Hook is not the answer and in hindsight never was. Just my opinion of course

I must say while I think you're being a bit harsh on Hook I agree that I'm suprised he's in the squad but in the main for 1 reason, he seems to be considered FB cover by Gats, despite Gats saying he considered him a FH. There are far better FB's in the squad - Byrne, Liam Williams, Tovey, Priestland - he can also play centre but then again there are far better players now (due to Hook being moved around and the physical way we now play and defend) - S Williams, Beck, Hughes & probably Henson - though this is only based on 2 regional games.
Gats doesn't seem to trust him at 10 (neither do I to be honest) and he's had huge amounts of chances here over the years and never convinced but strangely following the post-WC fever of 'Hook is terrible at 10' Hook hasn't played since yet there now seems to be a wave of 'Why hasn't Gats played Hook at 10' following Priestlands 1 awful game against England. But seeing this it would seem more appropriate to have the steady experience of Jones on the bench or have an up and coming player like Tovey there instead.

maybe i missed this bad game he had against Italy?

Italy came to defend and pressurise the halfbacks, as they're the link to that dangerous backline. It was obvious what they were doing and the 1 penalty to their name for their efforts about sums it up.

Priestland did what he did well, tended to choose the right options and bar a couple of average kicks he had a good game i thought? Gatland is giving him experience at this level, hes got to learn to play under pressure at this level if he's goign to improve. Thatll help with his "flaky" mindset no-end.

as ive said in other threads he is looking indecisive at times, but when we had crucial turnover ball he straightened the line (as he always does) giving roberts space to make a line break...priestland stays at ten for me because of this...

hook would have run laterally closign off the outside plyers space

I'll give Hooky a call and tell him to hang is boots up

just my opinion ruby the guy is class but tries to do too much and hasnt plyed really well for a number of years...saying that if priestland had a howler against france id have no qualms giving hook a go

Comfort wrote:maybe i missed this bad game he had against Italy?

Italy came to defend and pressurise the halfbacks, as they're the link to that dangerous backline. It was obvious what they were doing and the 1 penalty to their name for their efforts about sums it up.

Priestland did what he did well, tended to choose the right options and bar a couple of average kicks he had a good game i thought? Gatland is giving him experience at this level, hes got to learn to play under pressure at this level if he's goign to improve. Thatll help with his "flaky" mindset no-end.

+1

GavinDragon wrote:when we had crucial turnover ball he straightened the line (as he always does) giving roberts space to make a line break...priestland stays at ten for me because of this...

hook would have run laterally closign off the outside plyers space

Absolutely right.

I just feel that when on the back foot, Hook is a worry for me and makes game loosing decisions. On the front foot he is very good. Preistland was under pressure last week and played well, had Hook have been playing then i think that the pressure may have got to him and Italy may have gotton more points.

Priestland is still the man for the job in my eyes.

So what I'm seeing here is that Priestland has the opportunity to learn more which I'm sure he will but Hook will never learn and he will continue to crab sideways as he has done on occasion. I tend to disagree but hey ho. I think on the front foot and in broken play as it was on Saturday Hook would have found gaps and created gaps all over the place. RP is the number 1 but Hook should have been given an opportunity for his own confidence and the fcat that he is a class player who is still learning

The bottom line is that if Priestland gets injured or has a shocker on Saturday, Hook will have to come on at ten despite not playing there at all this Six Nations. That's asking a lot of Hook - it would be asking a lot of anyone - and it could have been avoided if Hook had come on at ten against Italy.

That's what I'm saying

Hook the saviour? Well, that's a step up from Hook the villain, that he was often portrayed as.

Hook was the kind of player Gatland dreamed about before he found any of his new heros. Fit, agile, laden down with natural athleticism, difficult for opposition to work out and contain. But Hook has been badly treated by those who select Welsh sides. He'd walk into any of the other 6N sides ...and I can't say the same about Priestland at all.

Priestland had three men closing him down at every set piece. Same tactic England used the week before. Worked well for both teams. Gatlands view was to leave Priestland to figure out how to deal with it.

You can't improve unless ou are constantly faced with more challenging issues.

You can't improve unless you are constantly faced with more challenging issues.

Exactly, and that is why he should have given Hook a chance as he did Priestland the previous week after rethinking taking him off with 20 to go