Joe Ansbro (Born

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, 29 October 1985) is a former Scottish international professional

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player. He is the first player of African origin to represent Scotland at test level in history.Late Scotland call-up for Joe Ansbro
/ref> His favoured position is

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

. He most recently played for

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club that most recently competed in the Premiership Rugby, Premiership, the top division of rugby union in England. The club also participated in the European Rugby Champions Cup, European Champion ...

. After gaining 11 full international caps his rugby career ended due to serious neck injury at the age of 26.

Early years

Ansbro was born in Glasgow and raised near

Gatehouse of Fleet Gatehouse of Fleet ( ) is a town, half in the civil parish of Girthon, and half in the parish of Anwoth, divided by the river Water of Fleet, Fleet, Kirkcudbrightshire, within the council administrative area of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. ...

in the historic county of

Kirkcudbrightshire Kirkcudbrightshire ( ) or the County of Kirkcudbright or the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright is one of the Counties of Scotland, historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Kirkcudbrightshire was an ...

in the administrative area of Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland. He was educated at Gatehouse Primary School before at the age of eight years entering St Mary's Hall, the preparatory school for Stonyhurst College. He played youth rugby with Stewartry Sharks, the youth team of Stewartry RFC. His senior education was received at Stonyhurst College before embarking on study of a Natural Sciences degree at

Robinson College, Cambridge Robinson College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1977, it is one of the newest Oxbridge colleges and is unique in having been intended, from its inception, for both ...

Northampton

Ansbro joined the Northampton Academy in 2006, during this time he was part of the

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

side that took part in

The Varsity Match The Varsity Match is an annual rugby union fixture played between the universities of Oxford and Cambridge in England. The event began in 1872 with the first men's match, with interruptions only for the two World Wars and the COVID-19 pandemic ...

, producing some quality displays for the

University A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. The club plays in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby union. It was formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. ...

took notice of this and he became a regular in the number 13 shirt during their season in National Division One, he also scored in the EDF Energy Trophy final.

London Irish

Ansbro joined

in 2011 on a three-year deal. The Scotland centre was one of numerous international players to join the club in 2011. London Irish head coach Toby Booth said: "He's quick, powerful with a great future ahead and will fit in nicely." Ansbro commented that "there are some great players who have committed their long term futures to the club and that speaks volumes for what is happening there."

Scotland

Ansbro made his international debut for Scotland A during the 2009 IRB Nations Cup tournament in Romania. Scotland A eventually went on to win the tournament, with Ansbro making his debut as outside centre in the win against Uruguay. He made his first senior Scotland appearance in the 21–17 victory over reigning world champions

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

in doing so he became the first black player to represent Scotland at test level. A week later he played in the 19–16 win against Samoa at Pittodrie in Aberdeen. Ansbro made his 6 nations appearance in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

's opening match of the 2011 Six Nations Championship against France in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Ansbro and the rest of the

team put in an impressive performance against a clinical French side despite eventually losing the match 34–21. His first points for

came in the 10–6 victory in a

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup, was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The World Rugby, International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japa ...

warm-up game against

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

where he scored the winning try in the 76th minute. Ansbro was included in Scotland's 30 man squad for the

in New Zealand. He went on to score his first RWC try against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

in Scotland's first group game of the 2011 tournament. The number 13 jersey in the next two games was taken by Nick de Luca before Ansbro was again selected, this time in Scotland's final group game versus England.

Injury

Ansbro broke his neck in a pre-season friendly against

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

on 24 August 2012. After being taken to hospital straight after the match it was discovered that Ansbro had a triple fracture of the C1 vertebra. As of 15 May 2013 Ansbro officially retired from rugby union.

Teaching

Ansbro, having graduated from

before his professional career became a Biology teacher and rugby coach at

Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (school founder), John Lyon, a local landowner an ...

, the public school. After teaching at Harrow School, he soon moved to

Stewart's Melville College Stewart's Melville College (SMC) is all-boys' Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Edinburgh, Scotland. Classes are all boys in the 1st to 5th years and co-educational in Sixth (final) year. It has a roll of about 750 p ...

where he also teaches rugby to the students.

References

External links

Scotland Rugby Team Profile

Northampton ProfileThe Rugby Blog profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ansbro, Joe 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Dumfries and Galloway Northampton Saints players London Irish players People educated at Stonyhurst College Cambridge University R.U.F.C. players Alumni of Robinson College, Cambridge Anglo-Scots Black British sportsmen Rugby union players from Glasgow People educated at Gatehouse School Scotland A international rugby union players Scotland international rugby union players Scottish rugby union players Stewartry RFC players Teachers at Harrow School Rugby union centres 2011 Rugby World Cup players 21st-century British sportsmen