Luther Burrell's story should be compulsory reading for all aspiring professional rugby players. A full cap for England would be nice, but true success has less to do with exalted status than the obstacles overcome along the way. Few team-mates have Burrell's levels of perseverance, and none owe their career to their mother writing a letter to Stuart Lancaster.

If the powerful Northampton centre does feature in the Six Nations this season – and a good Heineken Cup display for the Saints against Leinster on Saturday opposite the incumbent Irish midfield pair of Gordon D'Arcy and Brian O'Driscoll would help – his achievement will surely resonate with every unappreciated wannabe who never quite made it. Not long ago Burrell was on loan at Sedgley Park and then Otley, while his elite sporting ambitions slowly fermented at the bottom of a pint glass. Now, in the week of his 26th birthday, he will take his customary dressing-room seat alongside the Lions winger George North and not feel remotely out of place.

It was not ever thus. Growing up in Huddersfield, playing league and union, there were difficult times, particularly when his father, Geoff, was made redundant from his job at a chemical engineering factory when his son was 13. Burrell senior also developed a tumour in his foot and was unable to work with chemicals again. "Things took a bit of a downward spiral but he still managed to drive me up and down the country and support me." His family, not least his mother Joyce, a nurse, had to be resilient. "I wouldn't say I had a poor upbringing but a lot of my mates were from much wealthier families. There were certain things I couldn't do or buy."

How deep the disappointment, then, when he was overlooked, at 15, by the Leeds academy, who invited a team-mate from Huddersfield RUFC instead. "I remember thinking: 'This lad's no better than me. Why's he got picked up?' I got myself quite worked up about it." Which is what prompted his mother, Joyce, to write to Lancaster, now England's head coach but then in charge of Leeds' up-and-coming talent. Her son winces at the memory even now.

"She wrote a two page-email to Stuart saying: 'You've overlooked my lad etc.' You know, the way mums do. I kept telling her not to send it but she did." Lancaster, to his credit, replied a week later and promised the club would look again. They did not make the same mistake twice and young Luther, to his family's relief, was on his way. His father now has a senior security role at Leeds Bradford Airport, while the mate picked ahead of him "is selling carpets somewhere". Elite sport does not dish out favours lightly.

It still took Burrell another decade to reach the top. His first senior game for Leeds against Pertemps Bees was horrible – "I chucked a few wobblers out" – and he was loaned to Sedgley Park. Leeds were relegated from the Premiership and he got injured playing league for Leeds Rhinos reserves. His next contract offer was for £8,000 plus bonuses and match fees. Then another loan spell, at Otley, tested his morale further. "I was in a pretty dark place," he says softly. "I don't want to say I thought about giving up rugby but you feel like you've taken a big step backwards. I didn't want to be the player who goes on loan and ends up staying there."

In desperation he ceased going on nights out in Leeds – "I'd have a few when I was going through my dark spell" – and trained harder still. Joining Sale in 2011 proved to be another dead end, with the coach Steve Diamond preferring the powerful imported pair of Sam Tuitupou and Johnny Leota. "I wasn't really learning. I'd get five or 10 minutes at the end of games and it wasn't doing my confidence any good. It's difficult when you feel you've worked hard and you're still not getting the chances you think you deserve."

And then, boom! Since arriving in Northampton in 2012 – "I had a good game for Sedgley Park against them in the Championship and maybe someone remembered that" – all his frustrations have melted away. The hard-running Burrell has been consistently influential at No12 and Saints have lost just one Premiership game all season. Having already toured with England last summer, he knows the Leinster game is "a massive test for me to see where I am". O'Driscoll will need to be on his mettle. "I'll respect him but for 80 minutes he's going to be my enemy on the pitch. I'm going to try and get the better of him and D'Arcy, and try and gain their respect."

If he does feature in the Six Nations – "I think I would be ready to make that next step up" – it will neatly prove what Lancaster predicted seven years ago. "I was having a coffee the other day, weighing up my journey and recalling what Stuart once said to me at Leeds. He told me to be patient, that I had everything going for me but that he thought I'd come into my prime when I was 25, 26 or 27. At the time I didn't really want to hear that – I was 19 and I wanted it all then – but it's something I have never forgotten."

All this endearingly honest man needs to do now is keep expanding his range of skills and conquer the severe pre-match nerves that still affect him. "Last week we played Worcester, who are bottom of the Premiership. But I was still in the toilets practically being sick beforehand." Once the game starts, however, his desire is unshakeable. "When we were in camp with England last month, Stuart told us to watch a YouTube video of Tom Brady, the American quarterback. It was about his setbacks, how people didn't want him and how he'd had to work harder than everyone else to get to where he is.

"I'm not saying that's what I've had to do, but I've not had anything given to me. Now I'm here, starting in the Heineken Cup against international players and knocking on the England door, I don't want ever to go back to where I was. I can't tell you how much that drives me. It's always in the back of my head."

England's midfield desperately needs fresh impetus. Cometh the hour, cometh the big man?