The Scotland captain first rose to prominence as an exciting play-maker for Gala in the late 1990s, but soon after turning professional in 1999 he started to be used primarily as an outside back  and the vast majority of his 70 caps have been either on the wing or at full-back.

However, the 28-year-old has played stand-off for Scotland on a number of occasions, most notably against Fiji and Australia during the 2003 World Cup, and through most of Scotlands ill-fated 2004 Six Nations campaign.

Paterson started Saturdays match against England on the left-wing, but he was also the nominated cover for the stand-off berth and when Dan Parks was replaced in the 69th minute he looked fairly comfortable slotting in as first receiver  prompting renewed speculation about whether the long-term future of the most talented all-rounder in the Scottish backline is as a number 10.

Everybody is aware of how valuable a player Chris is to us and one of the reasons for that is the flexibility, which I like, said Hadden.

Wed like Gordon Ross to be playing regularly in Castres, though he isnt, and we have two serious contenders here in Scotland, but its still really handy to have Chris up our sleeve.

Its hard to get players to change the way they play during a game, so having different players available to ask different questions is a very important part of our strategy.

You wouldnt know how seriously Ive thought about Chris [at stand-off] in the past. There was a time when we didnt have any wingers in Scottish rugby and to play the game I wanted to play we needed guys who could run.

We have a glut of wingers now and that maybe doesnt put the same pressure on Chris to play there.

Maybe that opens the door for him to go and play somewhere else, but youll just have to wait and see. We also have Simon Webster, who is a flexible player, and Rory Lamont, and these guys are worth their weight in gold.

The Scotland team to play Wales at Murrayfield on Saturday will be announced on Tuesday at 11am.