There is such a head of steam behind Andy Farrell that if Brian Ashton doesn't select him against the Scots an awful lot of pundits are going to be disappointed, but I'd like to up the ante a bit further. What about Farrell paired with Jonny Wilkinson? Ashton clearly wants it to happen, so why not from the start, or at least bring Wilkinson on from the bench at Twickenham a week tomorrow.

Obviously a lot will depend on how Wilkinson goes against Leicester this weekend, but the prospect of the two together is mouthwatering - and if the new head coach isn't thinking along those lines, why did he keep Wilkinson in yesterday's trimmed squad?

So far Ashton has only talked loosely about when and on what terms Wilkinson might return, but not many weeks ago he was mentioning Farrell in similar fashion and look where we are now. On Wednesday the lid seemed to have been put on that argument when Ashton said he would have no qualms about giving Farrell his debut in the Calcutta Cup. He said he'd been a fan since watching Farrell play for Wigan as a 17-year-old and "knew what he was capable of".

Without wanting to upstage the England coach, I first saw him as a 13-year-old and knew he was something special even then. Wigan is the kind of place where word of a promising rugby league player gets around quickly and I took myself off to watch a game of schoolboy rugby which then - as it probably is now - was very, very competitive.

By the time Faz was 16 and captaining the schoolboys I'd long been in the ear of the Wigan board. He had everything. His passing and kicking were excellent and he was big. By the time he was 17 or 18 he was probably bigger than he is now, but there was always another side to him that the Doubting Thomases of rugby union are only now beginning to see.

Before the 1993 Challenge Cup final against Widnes, Andy roomed with Dean Bell, our captain. Everyone was obviously concerned that, because this was Andy's first full season, he might get a bit nervous. The idea was to put the 17-year-old with someone who would keep him calm before the big day, but it worked the other way.

Instead of looking after Andy I can remember Dean saying: "I can't believe this kid. He's the one calming me down. He's telling me, 'Don't worry, Dean, we'll slaughter them'." He was telling this to a man who had captained his country many times, and this was in the middle of the Wigan glory years.

We didn't "slaughter" Widnes, then coached by Phil Larder, but we did beat them 20-14 - the sixth of our eight consecutive Wembley victories.

Fifteen years on, you could argue that introducing a 31-year-old into Test rugby is a risk. I don't think so. Andy was pretty upset while the arguments were going on about where he should play, but from what I hear now he is more than comfortable wearing the No12 shirt. For sure, the occasion won't faze him and he offers England a new, extra dimension.

Farrell still has that kicking game, still handles brilliantly and has vision. He's solid in defence - imagine him paired with Wilkinson - but, more than that, he creates the conditions for other guys to play off him.

The attacking game now is not about offloading before the line (before the tackle) but getting through the line to create confusion and space in which support runners can work.

In league, Andy started in the second row, became loose forward and also played stand-off. In union, for England, he would be more like a 10½ rather than the conventional inside-centre, a second fly-half if you like, commanding defenders' attention.

He's not the fastest thing on two legs, but his power makes a dent in defences and allows him to stand up in the tackle, free his arms and offload to those who are. Instead of the wingers and full-back being the running threat, the burden that Farrell shoulders - rather like Tana Umaga did for New Zealand - increases the possibilities for the outside-centre, making four running backs rather than three. Andy may have played only seven union games at inside-centre but, believe me, he has been doing what England and Ashton need for all his rugby life.

shaun.edwards@theguardian.com