David Humphreys, the new director of rugby at Gloucester, believes that James Hook, also a new arrival at Kingsholm, could be the “most influential player in the Premiership this year”.
The convergence of Hook and Humphreys at Gloucester could not be more timely for the much admired Welshman, who has 76 caps and is still only 29 years old, yet has seen his standing within the Wales set-up slowly dwindle in the seven years that Warren Gatland has been the national coach.
Hook’s past three seasons were at Perpignan in France, though the club’s relegation in May freed him from his contract and he hopes that a season playing on Wales’s doorstep may now send the right messages.
Humphreys said: “James and I have talked. James wants to play for Wales, he doesn’t mind what position. But he wants to play No 10 for Gloucester. He is unbelievably talented. He has the potential to be the most influential player in the Premiership this year.
“That is one of the challenges for us; I’ll be disappointed if we are looking back in 12 or 24 months and we haven’t maximised the potential that we see in James.
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“He is a world-class rugby player and I think he will do very well.
“I haven’t talked to Warren about James, but I have spoken to James about what he has to do to get back into the Wales team.
“He believes that coming back to Gloucester will enhance his chances of re-establishing himself in the Wales team going into a World Cup year. We have to ensure that happens.”
Humphreys did not recruit Hook to the club. The player had been signed in the summer, before the arrival of Humphreys. However, Humphreys said: “If ever I had the chance, I would still have recruited James.”
Leinster confirmed yesterday that Jonny Sexton, the Ireland fly half, will rejoin them next season. Sexton left last year to play for Racing Métro in Paris, but has signed a new four-year contract with his former province.
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Gloucester will give five new players a debut in the first match of the new Aviva Premiership season this evening against Northampton, the champions. Gloucester recruited exhaustively in the close season and will field a new half-back pairing of Greig Laidlaw and James Hook, two new front-row forwards in Richard Hibbard and John Afoa, and Jacob Rowan, the former Leeds recruit, starts on the flank. Matt Kvesic is not available because of injury.
For Northampton, James Wilson starts at full back ahead of Ben Foden, who is on the bench having missed last weekend’s friendly because of a rolled ankle.
Teams
Northampton: J Wilson; K Pisi, G Pisi, L Burrell, G North; S Myler, L Dickson; A Corbisiero, D Hartley (captain), S Ma’afu, C Lawes, C Day, C Clark, T Wood, S Manoa. Replacements: R McMillan, A Waller, G Denman, J Craig, J Fisher, K Fotuali’i, W Hooley, B Foden.
Gloucester: R Cook; C Sharples, H Trinder, B Twelvetrees (captain), J May; J Hook, G Laidlaw; D Murphy, R Hibbard, J Afoa; T Savage, J Hudson; S Kalamafoni, J Rowan, B Morgan. Replacements: D Dawidiuk, Y Thomas, S Puafisi, T Palmer, R Moriarty, D Robson, M Atkinson, S McColl.