Northampton v Edinburgh: Joe's heart has always been at Murrayfield

• Memorable debut: Joe Ansbro runs out at Murrayfield for a game that was to result in a fine victory for Scotland over the world champions, South Africa. Photograph: Ian Rutherford

Every Scotland coach has to make bricks with precious little straw; to feed 5,000 with little more than a can of tuna and, like all good Blue Peter presenters, to make do with whatever materials come to hand.

So, when Andy Robinson was faced with a couple of injuries to key backs, he looked south of the Border for replacements, not once but twice.

In 2009 he whistled up Worcester's Alex Grove from the English Premiership and the centre won three caps, one of which included taking the scalp of the Wallabies.

One year later in similar circumstances the Scotland coach's eye fell upon Joe Ansbro, who appeared twice last autumn and helped Scotland beat the world champion Springboks.

The parallels between the two English-based players are remarkable. Both men were largely unheralded, although both had played in the Nations Cup for Scotland A before winning full international honours. Ansbro will be hoping that any similarities end there because Grove has fallen out the national squad and off the radar since his 15 minutes of fame.

Ansbro (he pronounces his name with a long "A", as in ant) is an interesting character, good humoured and intelligent enough to merit a 2:1 degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University. He won two Blues, one of which was alongside Glasgow's Ed Kalman, and he marked the Wallaby great Joe Roff out of the game in his other Varsity match. Little surprise, then, that Northampton signed him in his second year as a student.

As a child he was adopted by English parents. His dad Paul was a youth footballer with Blackburn, although he'd pretty much given up by the time he was 20, and Ansbro admits he is a lifelong Rovers fan as a result. Thanks to the weather the centre was allowed the luxury of a relaxing Christmas, as relaxing as the holiday season ever is with six siblings in the family, back in Dumfries - the Queen of the South - where he has lived all his life and still, despite his years in England, refers to as "home".

"I played for English Schoolboys but playing for England was not something I'd ever considered, to be honest," says Ansbro. "Geographically I played most of my rugby in England, I can't deny that, but my home has always been here in Scotland. Although I grew up playing football with my dad in the back garden, me and my older brother both really liked rugby and we were both keen Scotland enthusiasts, we both went up to watch games at Murrayfield."

Unlike most of his fellow countrymen, Ansbro still has a live interest in the Heineken Cup and his Northampton team, unbeaten in Europe so far, host Edinburgh at Franklin's Gardens this coming Friday. It would be nice to report that the newly-capped centre will have a chance to strut his stuff against at least one of his rivals for the Scotland shirt but so far Ansbro has been restricted to just four starts at club level and two of them came in the Anglo-Welsh LV= Cup, which counts for little. (Safe to say the LV does not stand for Louis Vuitton).

It says much about the type of rugby that prospers in England's Aviva Premiership that, ahead of this weekend's action, Saints were sitting pretty in second place, with two games in hand over the leaders, whilst employing two absolute bruisers in the midfield, Jon Clarke and James Downey, the bludgeon and the bigger bludgeon.

It is some indication of the paucity of options open to Robinson that Scotland's latest recruit can't get a start for his club and, while there is precedent for this - David Sole was first capped out of Bath United - the Scotland coach won't want to make a habit out of it if only for reasons of morale. Ansbro knows that his contract with Saints is up this year but he won't be drawn on whether he will move from the club in search of regular rugby, although he freely admits his time "riding the pine" isn't helping his World Cup chances any. When it is put to him that Andy Robinson surely wants his players starting for their clubs, Ansbro shoots back with just a hint of exasperation showing at the edges.

"I'm sure Andy Robinson's players would prefer to be playing regular rugby! I'm not dwelling on it too much," he continues. "There is lots of competition at Northampton with two big lads ahead of me. I am just trying to put my hand up and get in the starting 15.

"My cause hasn't been helped by having a few games cancelled because of the weather. I was due to start against Leeds, that was straight after the autumn internationals, which would have been good because I was on a real high, but that match was postponed and since then there haven't been a lot of opportunities.

"I am staying very positive about it, just playing for this club is great. I just have to keep training hard and hope that I get a chance. I'm not nave. I realise that I need to play regularly to put my hand up for (Scotland) selection but currently there is not a lot I can do about it. Head down, train hard, take my chances if I get them."

Thirteen is said to be unlucky for some and it's certainly made every recent Scotland coach want to lie down in a darkened room with a damp cloth over their forehead. In his 13-match stint with Scotland Robinson has handed the No.13 shirt to six separate starters - Sean Lamont, Max Evans, Alex Grove, Ben Cairns, Nick De Luca and Joe Ansbro - with the longest run of matches by any one player amounting to no more than three.

With a World Cup looming on the horizon, time is running out for the coach to make up his mind and give someone a run of games.

Max Evans has the benefit of playing outside Graeme Morrison every week but he may be better suited to the wing. Nick De Luca ticks most of the boxes if, and it is a big if, he can stay fit. Joe Ansbro brings genuine pace, good decision making and may even be a threat with the ball in hand, although it's difficult to judge given his lack of opportunities.

What is clear is that Scotland desperately need some sort of cutting edge in the backs.

While the example of Grove stands as a warning to anyone counting premature chickens, Ansbro is more than happy to draw parallels with another player - Chris Ashton.

His fellow Saint and England winger scored a 95-metre scorcher against Australia but not before enduring some tough times at Northampton after making the switch from rugby league.

"Ashy deserves his success," says his club mate, "because, even when he wasn't getting a lot of love at Northampton - he was sitting on the bench, if that - he still caused a lot of problems at training games so I suppose there is a parallel there. It's been nice to come out of that (being a reserve) and play on the international stage but the journey has only just begun for me."

The next few weeks will go a long way to determining whether Ansbro's journey is a one-way ticket to the international arena or a swift return from whence he came.