James Hook says criticism from Wales' coaches is justified

Fly-half Hook was man of the match in Wales' 26-19 win at Twickenham, but was not spared flak from coach Gatland.

The Kiwi says Hook has world-class potential, but said: "He should be more vocal and dominant in his demeanour.

"The message is: 'You must be accurate'. Against England he kicked one out on the full and a cross-kick put us under all sorts of pressure."

Gatland says if Hook can improve in those areas he will be ranked alongside All Black Dan Carter as truly world class.

"As a 10 I think James will get even better. He is a player with an enormous amount of potential and skill," said Gatland.

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"The fact he kicked his goals was as important as anything. If Wales had kicked their goals against Fiji at the World Cup they would have made the quarter-finals.

"I thought the skill he showed to create the try for Lee Byrne - the footwork, the sleight of hand - was quite sensational."

Gatland admits some Welsh players have been taken aback by the level of criticism he and assistant Shaun Edwards have aimed at a winning team.

But he said: "You can't just say to the players: 'Fantastic, well done, pat on the back and now let's train'.

"You need to improve them from week to week. Unless we criticise and point out faults, how do you get better?"

Hook has no problem with that approach, saying: "A lot of the criticism was justified because we didn't play well in the first half. We made a lot of errors, gave away a lot of silly penalties and let England into the game.

This is a big Six Nations for us now after making a great start James Hook

"The boys know we made a lot of mistakes and were quite lucky to win that game.

"A little bit of criticism will not do us any harm. But we can go forward with a lot of belief and confidence.

"In the second half we did what we do best, which is keep the ball in hand, run and use our backs outside. England couldn't cope with it. We only had two opportunities and we took them.

"It is brilliant to have won at Twickenham after 20 years and we are delighted - but right now we have to look ahead to facing Scotland.

"This is a big Six Nations for us now after making a great start and if we lose to Scotland it will all go down the pan.