Priestland injured his left shoulder in the 22-10 quarterfinal win over Ireland last weekend, when he was selected to start at flyhalf in favor of Hook and 102-test veteran Stephen Jones.

Hook’s return is the only change to the starting XV announced Thursday by Wales coach Warren Gatland. Jones has been recalled to the reserves bench for the semifinals.

“It’s part of sport. You pick up injuries, you don’t dwell on that,” Gatland. Priestland “wasn’t available to us. We put James Hook in, he’s very experienced.

“You give James an opportunity and we know how good he is. We’ve been lucky we haven’t picked up too many injuries in this competition. To have players of the quality of James Hook to come into the team and Stephen Jones on the bench shows what a good position we’re in with the 10 position at the moment.”

Priestland has been instrumental in the revival of the Welsh running game, directing a young backline from No. 10. But he has been in doubt all week after being seen in the post-match period with his arm in a sling. Gatland said a decision was taken late Wednesday when the injury didn’t respond to treatment.

Hook, who missed two matches during the pool stage with an injured shoulder, has said he is all set to step in.

Hook has “been running there and he’s looked very sharp,” Gatland said. “For the last two weeks of training we’ve been running him at 10. He played at 15 in the first couple of games and if it hadn’t been for picking up an injury we would have played him (at flyhalf) earlier than this.”

Gatland said the choice between Hook and Jones for the starting role was a “tough call.”

“It was a toss of the coin,” he said, adding what worked in Hook’s favor was “Probably the fact that we’d gone with James last week to cover that position.

“It’s been documented about his versatility as well. So we have been very impressed with the way Rhys had played. He’s learned from each game and he’s got better game to game. But we’re got a couple of experienced players to come back in this position.”

Wales is back into the World Cup semifinals for the first time since the inaugural tournament in 1987.

Gatland said the loss of Priestland would not cause Wales to alter its style.

“We’re not going to change the way we’ve been playing,” he said. “We’ve encouraged the players to (express themselves) and the big focus has been about making the right decisions.

“If it’s moving the ball from our 22 then they’ll be encouraged to do that. What we’ve done is we’ve played some really smart rugby.”

Gatland said despite the loss of Priestland, Wales would retain the youthful enthusiasm which has been part of their success at the tournament so far.

“I think the fact we’ve got a really good balance of some experience and young players who have no fear at the moment and you can judge that in training,” he said. “The quality is there, the composure.

“We planned to train for about 50 minutes (on Tuesday afternoon) but we shortened it by 15 minutes because the quality and execution of the players showed to me as a coach that we’re in the right frame of mind.”

Gatland dismissed any suggestion that Wales are underdogs for Saturday’s match.

“I’ve said before it’s good to be in New Zealand,” he said. “All the talk has been of the All Blacks and Australia so we’ve continued to come under the radar.

“I know people are starting to talk about us a little bit — not too much — but it’s been quite nice that there hasn’t been too much notice on us. I think it’s been good for us as a squad there hasn’t been too much pressure on us.”

Gatland said nothing could be taken for granted in a semifinal against France. Though the French campaign had been troubled at times they turned a corner with their quarterfinal win over England.

“I think everyone’s aware of the capabilities of France to win any competition, to win any game,” he said. “They’ve got unpredictability but they’ve definitely got quality right throughout their side.”

Gatland said France had good experience, size and speed.

Maxime “Medard has been one of the standout performers at this World Cup. Even though he’s scored only one try, he’s created a lot and they’ve got quite a good set piece as well so I think it’s going to be tough,” he said. “Hopefully both teams go out and play some rugby and we end up with two semifinals which reflect this game in a really positive light.

“I think everyone’s conscious of what happened in 2007 when it was pretty much a kick-fest, there weren’t many tries scored and if we can do that with two semifinals I think it will be good for the game globally.”