Mystery of Hook and that Wales No10 shirt
The Rugby Paper|January 19, 2020
James Hook did something a long time ago which no British or Irish player has done in the Six Nations since. He went through the card, ticking all four boxes in the scoring book: try, conversion, penalty, drop.
Mystery of Hook and that Wales No10 shirt

He did it, what’s more, not in a landslide win over Italy but against England in Cardiff at the end of a tournament when a home defeat by Ireland followed by three more in Edinburgh, Paris and Rome left Wales marooned at the bottom. On St Patrick’s Day 2007, Hook averted the crisis of a whitewash by ensuring that the winning margin, 27-18, proved just enough to leave Scotland bottom on points-difference.

During the next six months, Wales rewarded him with three starts in a row, then shifted him back to inside centre before the riotous run-in with Fiji in Nantes brought about Gareth Jenkins’ brutal sacking the next morning, the penalty for having found himself on marginally the wrong side of a 72-point classic.

Hook’s confirmation that he will retire at the end of the season prompts the renewal of a question which his admirers have asked ad infinitum without getting close to a satisfactory explanation:

Why were Wales so reluctant to pick him at ten?

The facts lend credence to the question. Of all Hook’s 81 Tests, he started a mere 21 at fly-half. In other words, barely one-quarter of his total appearances in his favourite position.

Worse still, he was in and out at ten for Wales on at least 13 occasions. Apart from that three-match run into the 2007 World Cup, he was never allowed more than two outings on the bounce. Even making full allowance for the squad system, that takes some understanding.

この記事は The Rugby Paper の January 19, 2020 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

この記事は The Rugby Paper の January 19, 2020 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

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