England’s Owen Farrell is an unwilling centre of attention against Samoa

If Manu Tuilagi was fit there would be a completely different mood ahead of England’s Test against Samoa. The talk would have been of physical collisions and the Leicester man’s potentially shuddering reunion with his Pacific island confrères. Instead all eyes are on a different English centre, Owen Farrell, and the serious mental challenge now awaiting him.

Beneath Twickenham’s twinkling floodlights it will almost be as if Farrell is starting his Test career from scratch. George Ford’s anointment as the starting fly-half may conceivably be for one game only but it has not felt so this week. By shifting Farrell out to inside-centre to accommodate the boy George – and removing his goal-kicking responsibilities as well – the England management have made it very clear Ford is now occupying the driver’s seat.

If the latter reacts positively, there are obvious career repercussions for the 23-year-old Saracen, who remains adamant he is not a natural centre. “As I see it you’ve got another 10 playing at 12,” he reiterates. “I’m not an out-and-out classic centre. I’ll be playing one pass out but I’ll still be playing the same way. There’ll be times where I’m sure we’ll swap around, when he’ll be sat out the back of things and I’ll be at first receiver. You can afford to interchange like that.”

That is the main rationale, of course, behind Stuart Lancaster’s decision: giving England a second pair of eyes, ears and kicking boots capable of navigating through and over congested Test midfields. By his own admission, though, Farrell is not a Matt Giteau-type footballer, the shining modern example of a perfect 10/12. By the time the World Cup arrives, it would be less surprising to see Sam Burgess wearing 12 for England than Farrell still starting at inside-centre.

This is not to diminish what Farrell brings at his best: extraordinary levels of competitiveness, an ability to thrive under pressure, unflinching defence and world-class place-kicking. It is just that his childhood mate Ford – “He was a bit cleverer than me at school” – potentially offers England something different in terms of unlocking gain-line defences. Once the young Bath player sneaks through a gap and throws a cheeky offload, who do England ideally want on his shoulder? A strong, pacy support runner or another facilitator not necessarily famed for his sprinting ability? Every top-class midfield relies on balance and, at elite level, trying to fudge it never works.

So Farrell faces a nigh impossible dilemma: reinvent himself in a position to which he does not feel naturally suited or try to regain his place at 10 from a player whom England will be sorely tempted to stick with if he makes an impact against the Samoans. To complicate the task further, his best form is currently elusive and his father is a member of the coaching staff. His only real option is to stay positive in public and bust a gut in private in support of the team, regardless of personal misgivings.

Sure enough, since the news of Ford’s elevation broke, he has tried to do precisely that. “I’m chuffed to be playing ... I didn’t for one second think, even if things were going brilliantly and we were winning every game, that I was going to start from now until whenever,” Farrell said.

“I’m not naive enough to think that. We’re going into a massive year in terms of the two games we’ve got in front of us, followed by the Six Nations and that thing in the future. Like I said, I didn’t expect to start every game.”

“That thing”, as everyone knows, is a World Cup hosted by England.

While it is virtually impossible to imagine Farrell failing to make the squad, there is a huge amount of rugby to be played and intense competition for the 12/10 roles. Billy Twelvetrees, Kyle Eastmond, Luther Burrell, Henry Slade, Danny Cipriani ... when Tuilagi and, potentially, Burgess are at Lancaster’s disposal the midfield landscape may yet look very different. From Farrell’s perspective, therefore, this is no time for navel-gazing, particularly with Sale’s hard-edged Johnny Leota lining him up.

“I’ve got to be ready to react to what’s going on just like I usually would,” he admitted. “Obviously you’re normally the person passing the ball as a 10 but if there is a gap the gap’s for you. I’ve just got to be pushing and connected and constantly looking where I’m needed. If he [Ford] goes to the line and someone’s needed there, I’ve got to make sure I’m there.”

When England are awarded their first kickable penalty, though, the straight-talking Farrell would not be human if he does not feel slightly twitchy. In 27 Tests for his country he has scored 290 points; only five Englishmen have ever scored more. The last time he played at 12 for England against Scotland and Italy in 2012 he still did the goal-kicking. “You like the responsibility of it, yeah,” he concedes quietly. “But I’ll not be too downhearted; I’ll have a job to concentrate on.”

So will England. Their three-point defeats to New Zealand and South Africa were both straight out of the curate’s hen-house, a mixture of impressive power and frustrating inaccuracy at costly moments. This week they can ill afford to start sluggishly. Having initially threatened to boycott this fixture in protest at their own union’s “incompetence” – they were threatened with excommunication from the World Cup and the Olympics if they carried through with it – Samoa’s players will seek to throw tattooed body and soul at England for the first 50 minutes at least.

The visitors, however, are an ageing bunch, with no fewer than 10 of their starting XV now aged over 30. The floodlights may expose more than a few wrinkles if England’s set piece goes as strongly as it has done lately and, all things considered, England should pull away to win by 30 points.

The hosts will be keenly aware, though, that the manner in which they play will be scrutinised just as minutely. If the Ford-Farrell axis frees up England’s attacking game, it might yet be redeployed against Australia next week. If not, the Bermuda triangle that is England’s midfield could claim yet another victim.