Does Wales scrum-half Gareth Cooper warrant his place in the side? © Getty Images

You'll forgive me that I'm a bit tardy with this. The Wales team was named on Tuesday lunchtime, but I've been too busy to comment as I've spent the past few days railing at the heavens, tearing out my hair and wearing uncomfortable undergarments in an attempt to appease whatever power on high that the Welsh nation seems to have offended and caused our national team head coach to be cursed with the sort of blind stubborness that would make King Cnut look like a reasonable and logically thinking chap.

The consensus from anyone who had eyes, ears... any of the senses really, is that Wales' woeful performance against England was a new low point in the Gatland regime, and a tipping point in the perception of the New Zealander in the eyes of the Welsh public. "The honeymoon is over" according to the Western Mail, although truth be told, anyone but the most fair weather of rugby fans has been developing serious reservations with the former Waikato coach, his tactics and particularly his team selection for well over a year now.

We all know that the Welsh public are far from patient when it comes to national coaches, but Gatland's instant Grand Slam in 2008 bought him the most security a Welsh coach has enjoyed since Graham Henry. Yet in the last 12 months Wales haven't beaten a decent team (Argentina were very poor and England last year were dreadful), and their last two matches have seen them ship 30 points, being outscored eight tries to two in the process. It's unacceptable by Gatland's own high standards and for the quality of the current crop of Welsh players

It's a very real possibility that Gatland needs to win all of his remaining home fixtures (and probably have a good crack at the Irish away) to stand any chance of quieting the increasingly vocal lobby calling for his head, and if nothing else, he needed to show with his team choice for the game against Scotland that he was capable of admitting his mistakes and being decisive for the sake of the team.

Instead, he's done precisely the opposite, and in the process has further damaged his increasingly precarious position. Firstly, rather than accepting that Gareth Williams and Andy Powell are just not playing at the required level, the poor-but-hardly-the-worst Tom James and Luke Charteris have paid the price for the England farce.

And then there's Gareth Cooper, more than Alun-Wyn Jones or anyone else, the Blues half-back was responsible for the result at Twickenham. He's out of form, getting old, and frankly, was hardly Gareth Edwards to start off with, and boy did it show. His decision making time can be measured in ice ages, his field vision is so narrow I think he might be cross-eyed, and his delivery was so pathetic, sometimes it was hard to tell if he thought Stephen Jones was Stretch Armstrong in a red shirt.

Williams and Powell you can just about forgive - the pack had a decent game (lineout not withstanding) last week - but Cooper's performance was terminal. It's the sort of game that ends international careers. In his first game in charge, Alix Popham angered Gatland so much with his bad performance, he's not been seen for Wales since, and it's the same for Gareth Delve. Yet Cooper, despite the fact that we played about 100 times better when Richie Rees came on, despite the fact he hasn't had a good game for Wales in about two years and despite the fact that Dwayne Peel is now fit enought to play for Sale, retains the No.9 jersey.

Not only is it infuriating, nonsensical, and frankly makes Gatland look like a coach who can't admit his mistakes to the detriment of the team - it gives his detractors the sort of ammunition that could ultimately bring him down. The papers are full of comment pieces already, the websites have got polls asking what team you, the more sensible Joe Public would pick if you were in charge.

It's the sort of second guessing that can easily build a head of steam, it enforces the perception that Gatland is wasting some of Wales' most important talents with his own arrogance and stubborness, and it's the sort of thing that could easily lead to him finding a P-45 in his pigeonhole come March.

Only a truly convincing performance on Saturday can prove his point, yet with Gareth Cooper at nine, Gatland's Titanic seems to be rapidly heading towards danger...

Josh Gardner