6:10am Saturday 20th March 2010
By Robin Davey in New Zealand
JAMES Hook admits the Welsh team owe the fans a performance and a victory in their final Six Nations game of the season.
Hook has been a peripheral figure in the Welsh team this season after the opening game against England, looking uncomfortable in the unfamiliar position of outside centre.
With Stephen Jones appearing more and more pedestrian and Dan Biggar a similar type of player, though suffering from a slight hamstring injury, there have been calls for Hook to be restored to the No 10 jersey in a bid to inject some imagination into Welsh back play.
Wales coach Warren Gatland even admitted at the team announcement this week that he had considered such a move, but decided to leave alone in the end.
Hook makes no secret of his wish to play at outside half, but agrees, “We have got to end the season on a high against Italy. We owe it to ourselves, to the fans and to the coaches, it’s about going forward from here with games against South Africa and the All Blacks to come.
“We are all disappointed with the performance against Ireland, but Italy is a massive game for us now and individuals will be looking to the South Africa match, the summer tour, the autumn series and the Six Nations next season ahead of the World Cup.
“The supporters have been really good to us this season and we need to put in a performance for them as well.
“Personally, I’m really looking forward to the Italy game, I feel I’ve got a lot to offer and after the big disappointment against Ireland we want to finish on a high.
“We had one really tough training session earlier in the week when the boys had to front up and be open and honest about it all at a good meeting.
“We all realise this is a big game now. In a lot of them the performance has been good but not good enough to win games. We’re looking forward to putting in an 80-minute performance on Saturday and keeping the mistakes down in particular.”
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