Hook lands further plaudits
Former Wales fly-half Neil Jenkins has lauded successor James Hook as a player so talented that coaches should leave him alone to develop.
World record points scorer Jenkins is now Wales’ kicking coach, giving him huge insight into the goal-kicking trio of Hook, Gavin Henson and lately arrived tour party member Ceri Sweeney.
As they prepared to take on Australia in the first Test at Sydney’s Telstra Stadium on Saturday, Jenkins said: “The boys are working really hard on their game in training and we are blessed with a choice of three very talented kickers.
“Take James Hook as an example. He is such a talented individual and right on his game at the moment, that the best thing for us to do as coaches is just leave him to get on with it.
“As coaches you don’t want to create robots. You want to nurture talent and players like Hook do things instinctively in a game.
“We’ve got to make sure we don’t over coach and detract from that instinct.”
And while Jenkins wouldn’t wish a bad day with the boot on any of his charges, he acknowledged such an experience helped him become the game’s most prolific points-scorer during his Wales and British and Irish Lions career.
Recalling the day he missed seven kicks against Ireland in 1993 Jenkins said: “It made me progress more as a kicker.
“It seems odd in a sense you miss that number of kicks and you’re devastated, but it helped make me as a kicker.
“It’s when you have a bad day at the office that you find out about yourself. You soul search, look at where you may have gone wrong and get on with it.”
