New Zealander Warren Gatland has seen enough in his short time as Wales coach to suggest that James Hook has all the attributes to challenge Dan Carter as the world's best outhalf - except a big mouth.

The former Ireland coach now wants Hook, who is quiet off the field, to become more commanding on it, as he looks to build on last weekend's 26-19 victory over England.

Hook was named man of the match for his performance at Twickenham, which included a faultless kicking display and the electric break to set up Lee Byrne for the try which sparked the Welsh comeback.

"He is a player with an enormous amount of potential and skill," said Gatland. "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 slight of hand — was quite sensational.

"As a 10 I think he will get even better. But he needs to get a bit more vocal and dominate the game in terms of his demeanour on the field."

The importance of Hook taking control has been heightened by the personalities around him, with Gavin Henson at inside centre also not renowned as an on-field bawler.

Inside him, scrumhalf Mike Phillips is relatively inexperienced at Test level and Wales need Hook to direct operations with confidence.

The one asset England's rising star Danny Cipriani boasts in spades is a confidence to shout orders at his more senior players, something Phil Vickery believes has come from working closely with the likes of Lawrence Dallaglio.

Hook's performance at Twickenham may have helped turn the game for Wales and Carter himself has been quoted this week saying the Ospreys fly-half "can definitely be as good as me".

But it was not enough to save Hook from criticism as Gatland and Shaun Edwards delivered their blunt assessment of what was, in the main, a poor team display.

"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," he said. "The message at this level is: 'You have to be accurate'.

"Hook kicked one out on the full, he had a cross kick that put us under all sorts of pressure.

"Unless we criticise and point out faults, how do you get better?"

Hook had no problem accepting the pointers from Gatland. He already knew Wales' first-half performance at Twickenham was not something to be proud of.

"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," said Hook. "The boys know we made a lot of mistakes and were quite lucky to win that game. It will not do us any harm, a little bit of criticism.

"But we go forward with a lot of confidence."

Wales tackle Scotland on Saturday and while a first victory at Twickenham is still fresh in the mind, so is the pain of last year's 21-9 mauling by the Scots at Murrayfield.