WALES coach Warren Gatland admits he has taken a risk in switching James Hook to outside half for Saturday’s Six Nations clash against Scotland at Murrayfield.

Hook has not played there for two years at this level and even for the Ospreys he has only occupied the position late in a game when taking over from Dan Biggar.

The refusal of the Ospreys and Wales to pick him in his favourite No 10 position is one of the main reasons behind his forthcoming move to Perpignan where he has expressed a wish to play in his best position, a wish which has been granted.

There has been a clamour for Hook to take the keys to the No 10 position for Wales in place of the more pedestrian though much more experienced Stephen Jones.

Gatland has now bowed to that pressure, though he insists it’s partly because of the neck injury Jones suffered in the opening minutes against England which prevented him from training on Monday and Tuesday, though he will be fit for the bench.

“There is a certain amount of risk involved as James has not started a game at outside half this season,” said Gatland. “But the decision was made easier considering Stephen has been limited in what he can do in the early part of this week after the bump he picked up against England.

“Rhys Priestland (also a replacement) has been the best attacking 10 in Wales this season, but it would be putting him under real pressure at Murrayfield so it’s a grave call to put James there considering he hasn’t started at 10 all season.

“He’s been doing well there for the Ospreys coming on there, but it’s a lot different at international level and he didn’t quite have the impact against England when his game was quite lateral and he took a lot on himself, so we’ll have to work on that.

“There is a tendency for him to take too much on himself and running when he could kick and kick when he could be running, he could be a bit more conservative and not take too many risks, just be natural and instinctive and take the right decisions.”

Gatland also admits he is under big pressure from all sides after Wales’ dismal run but he’s prepared to take it on his shoulders.

“We’re in professional sport and you’ve got to realise it’s about performing and getting results,” he said. “You’ve got to take the criticism on board. We’re all responsible for those mistakes and we’re all under pressure to get results and perform.”

Gatland is expecting another tough test against Scotland especially after they scored three tries against France though they lost the game.

“I was surprised the Scottish scrum was under pressure but they can take a lot of credit for scoring three tries, it’s hard to know whether they created them or whether France took their foot off the pedal,” he said.

“Scotland play a lot like New Zealand tactically and it’s going to be a tough game for us up there.”

Gatland says they have got to use big centre Jamie Roberts better after he was pretty anonymous against England.

“Jamie likes the ball in his hands and we need to use him as an attacking weapon,” he said. “He needs to go looking for the ball, he’s got to demand it.

“We’ve called too many short line-outs which we need to address and we need to get Jamie into the game and run at the Cardiff No 10 (Dan Parks) as well.”