Yes, Iestyn can be lord of the flies

Autumn internationals: Welsh rugby's new playmaking hero does not need coaching ? but he may need time

Even after only one full game, Iestyn Harris is being compared to all those Welshmen who have worn the No 10 shirt before him. I can tell you one area in which he is better than any of us were – he is far stronger. It is part of our tradition that every new outside-half has to go through this comparison treatment sooner or later and it usually adds to the fierce pressure that contenders for the throne have to undergo.

But, such is the immediate impact that Iestyn has made at Cardiff that he is already being hoisted on to a high pedestal, and we are going to have plenty of opportunity during the next few weeks to study whether he can live up to it in big game action. But he will not suffer when he comes to physical contact. Do not forget that he has played loose forward on many occasions in rugby league, and none of his predecessors would have been capable of that. Mind you, he has had the advantage of being a professional since a young age, so he has been brought up on full-time training, which was denied us.

His defensive strengths and his tackling ability are inbred in a way that they would not have been in union's former days, but when it comes to the other facets of outside-half play comparisons are going to be a little more difficult.

When you look back at players like Dai Watkins, Barry John, Phil Bennett, Gareth Davies... we were all individuals in our own right and the only similarity is that we were all different and needed to be.

Not only has the role of outside-half been changing through the years but we all played in teams and times that were quite different from each other. Half-backs depend a great deal on the strength of the forwards in front of them and you could hardly compare the supremacy of the great Welsh pack of the Seventies with that of the mid to late-Eighties.

And I am not sure any of us would have changed eras with Neil Jenkins, who required a new set of skills and priorities in the dark days of the Nineties to keep the Welsh No 10 shirt fluttering from the tallest mast.

I never saw Barry John play, yet I have seen enough of the television archives to realise what a great outside-half he was and people are right to recognise in Iestyn the same ability to swerve and glide through opposition territory. Phil Bennett was also magical in the weaving department, but by the time Gareth Davies was in the No 10 spot, kicking ability had to play a much bigger part. So it was in my day and continues to be so today. This is where Iestyn needs to make progress. His kicking out of hand will have to improve and he will have to get used to taking longer place kicks than in league.

I don't know where Graham Henry intends to play him for Wales but I still think that inside centre could be an option at the moment. He was comfortable at 10 against Glasgow last weekend but Cardiff were so much on top and going forward most of the time that he was getting quick ball and plenty of space.

It's when the ball supply slows down that the hard decision-making comes into it. Do you put it downfield or look for the pass? When the games get tighter he would appreciate the extra time available at inside centre. The positions can easily be exchanged between first and second phases, where he would be happy at first receiver. England do it all the time with Jonny Wilkinson, Mike Catt and Austin Healey.

I'm sure that Iestyn will find in Glasgow today that the defence will close him down and those long passes he threw last weekend are going to be more vulnerable to interception.

My only real fear is that he might get snagged up in a rigid system for Wales. Graham Henry is an advocate of an ordered method of play and having to obey strict instructions could do more damage to Iestyn's development than any opposition.

All he needs is a system that produces options for him and allows him to decide which ones to take. Obviously, there has to be a general game plan but planning down to the last detail will stifle him. Just give him the right platform – he knows where the holes are without having to look for them.

Neither does he need coaching. He needs guidance and advice about the differences between the two codes, but he must be allowed to make his own adjustments, such as the variety of depths he needs to stand at.

Among his many attributes is the fact that he is a quick learner. I remember him at Warrington as a 17-year-old and I am proud to say that I had some part in his early development.

He has always been very competitive and used to want to race me for a fiver in training. I was glad when I left Warrington to return to union because I would not have been able to beat him for much longer. It was the same with kicking practice. He was always challenging me and very often beating me.

He was also cheeky. I was taking a vital last-minute conversion from the touchline against France in 1994 when he brought the sand on. While I was making the mound to stand the ball on he looked at the posts and said: "I'm glad I'm not taking that". It went over and we went on to win the match 13-12. In the dressing-room afterwards I told him: "One day, I'll be able to sit back and watch you taking those."