Hook:Why I’ll never give up on aWales call
HE doesn’t sit by his phone every night waiting for the call that never comes. But nor has James Hook given up hope that he will yet receive a summons from the wilderness from Wales.
The richly talented playmaker is now 31, with his club career having taken him to Perpignan and Gloucester since he departed the Ospreys. This summer, he is heading back to where it all began on the senior scene, having signed again for the Ospreys.
It is a move that will prove popular with many of their supporters.
Memories are still vivid enough of Hook operating with genuine craft at inside centre during the region’s league title-winning season of 200910. Romantics would probably prefer to recall his efforts at fly-half — in a Heineken Cup game against Treviso he played with bewildering flair, appearing to have a hand in pretty much every one of the Ospreys’ 10 tries — and in his early years with Wales he also fired the imagination.
But since the 2011 World Cup he has started just three matches for the national team: three in close on 2,000 days, one in the centre against the Barbarians, another against Tonga and a third against Ireland in a World Cup warm-up.
It is enough to make members of the James Hook Appreciation Society weep.
But the man himself hasn’t given up on the idea that he may yet find a way back onto the Test stage.
His return to Welsh rugby should help on that front no end.
He still isn’t banking on anything, but being at home will at least put him back on Warren Gatland’s radar. If he is playing well on the regional scene, who knows?
“I don’t think you ever give up on your Test ambitions,” he said.
“I will be back in Wales and if I am playing well then I’ll just have to hope that form is rewarded.
“At no stage have I thought of retiring from the Test scene.
“When I retire I will retire from all rugby rather than just say that I’m no longer available for national team.
“There’s nothing to be gained from that. I’m Welsh and I have always taken huge pride out of playing for my country. If they need me I’ll play for them. That has always been the case.
“In fairness, when Wales initially started leaving me out they got in touch to explain. Since the last World Cup I haven’t heard from them, but they have a lot of players to deal with and it’s obviously hard to ring them all.
“You just keep your head down and keep trying to play as well as possible.”
Hook is currently sidelined by a broken thumb but hopes to return for a last hurrah with Gloucester. Thoughts will then seriously turn to his homecoming at the Ospreys.
It is six years since he left them, and the landscape at the region has changed completely, the last of the galacticos — of whom Hook was considered one — having long ago departed, leaving the dressing room a fake tan-free zone.
Hook continued: “My priority in the short term is to get back and do my bit for Gloucester towards the end of the season.
“They’re a great bunch of boys and the supporters are top class, too.
“But of course it’s exciting to think about returning to Wales.
“My family are there and it will be great to live near them and by people I have known for a long time — a lot of them my old mates.
“And I’m really looking excited about going back to the Ospreys.
“I know a lot has changed since I left, but there are good people there and Steve Tandy has put together a side who love to play rugby.
“I always keep an eye out for their results. It was heart-breaking for them to lose against Stade Francais last week, with all that possession and territory.
“But it’s sport and the key thing is you learn from it.”
Hook is flexible about where he will play at the Ospreys.
“I think you have to be prepared to do your bit for the squad,” he said.
“The Ospreys have two excellent fly-halves in Biggs (Dan Biggar) and Sam Davies, so the probability is I won’t be needed too often there.
“I’ll just fit in where the coaches need me.
“I’ve played centre and full-back, so I could do a job in either of those positions. I’m a rugby player and I just enjoy playing rugby.”
In sport there are Roundheads and Cavaliers, with Hook unashamedly fitting into the latter catergory.
Welsh rugby will be a brighter place for his return.