Wednesday afternoon at BT Murrayfield, and there are two Matt Scotts in the room.

One is sitting at the far side of the table, the other is looking down from a poster on the wall. The real Matt Scott smiles when his image is pointed out to him. Clearly, he understands the irony.

It is there to advertise Scotland's autumn and Six Nations Test programmes. Scott missed the first tranche of those matches as he was still recovering from the serious shoulder injury he suffered at the end of last season, and he is in danger of being on the sidelines again when the Championship gets under way in February. He has only just got back into action, and he knows he has some catching up to do.

Briefly, the mind skips back 18 months to a training pitch on the outskirts of Johannesburg. Scott Johnson, then national caretaker coach, is there, telling all who care to listen that Scott is as good as any player he has worked with. Specifically, he draws a comparison with New Zealand legend Ma'a Nonu. "He has some gears," says Johnson. "I haven't coached too many centres with his natural gifts."

But those Scott gears were grinding all the way through last season. A calamitous sequence of injuries meant he never picked up speed in the early part of the campaign, and he admits now that he was rushed back too early in the Six Nations. The haste then was understandable as Scotland could not afford to be without him. But, as he knows only too well, they can now.

From his debut against Ireland in March 2012 to the November 2013 clash with Japan - when he picked up the hand injury that ended the sequence - Scott played 16 games on the trot for Scotland. Yet having been a fixture in the side for so long under Johnson, he admits now that he has hardly had any dealings with new coach Vern Cotter. "Apart from the odd 'hello' in the corridor, I've not actually spoken to him," he shrugs.

In his absence, Alex Dunbar and Mark Bennett became Scotland's first-choice midfield partnership. Bennett, who injured a hamstring against the All Blacks, is now a doubt for the start of the Six Nations, but Cotter can call on Peter Horne, Sean Lamont and Duncan Taylor before he decides he needs to get to know Scott any better. Unless, of course, Scott presses his own case over the weeks ahead.

The Edinburgh centre's campaign gets back under way today when he lines up for his side in their European Challenge Cup clash with London Welsh at the Kassam Stadium in Oxford. It is only his fourth game since his return against Cardiff late last month, and he admits that he is not yet up to speed.

"I feel fit, I feel in good shape," the 24-year-old said. "The conditioners have done good work with me. Over the last six months I've managed to work on things you never have time to do when you are playing games. It's good to have had that extra time.

"In terms of actual rugby training, my first session was the week of the Cardiff game. I've really had no rugby pre-season at all, so I do feel that I am a bit rusty. It's really just in terms of decision-making on the pitch that I feel a difference. As far as seeing things unfold is concerned, I'm just not quite there yet."

Scott could have been speaking for the entire team in regard to the first half of their Murrayfield meeting with London Welsh. Edinburgh misfired horribly for 40 minutes, trailed 13-6 at the interval and only pulled away with three tries towards the end for their 25-13 win.

"At half time we probably deserved to be down by more," says Scott. "We made something like 13 unforced errors. On a bad day that's what you would expect to get over 80 minutes. We couldn't get any rhythm going. It's strange when that happens. You can sense this disjointed feeling, when nobody is on the right wavelength. Sometimes you need that break at half time to stabilise things. Against a more clinical side I think we would have been 20 points down at half time. We were that bad."

In fairness, he also thinks Edinburgh were so much better after the break that they were unlucky not to have a bonus point at the finish. As London Welsh's tournament prospects were also dynamited by the result, Edinburgh will head south today in an optimistic frame of mind. Scott was involved in their heady run to the Heineken Cup semi-finals three seasons ago, and he believes another European foray could bring a new spirit to the side.

And, in the process, revive his Test hopes. "I just want a good run, which I think is the case for a lot of us Edinburgh guys," he says. "The Glas- gow boys are in the driving seat for national selection just now and quite deservedly so, but we have an import- ant run of seven games leading up to the Six Nations. It will be important to play well, especially in the two Glasgow games that are coming up.

"In my position I think there is more competition now than there has been for a number of years. But I love that competition. I think it is great for the squad and great for me personally. I like to try to prepare as if I'm the second-string player and I've got something to prove. I think it's a good thing to have in your head, rather than thinking you don't have to work on your game.

"But now I really am coming in as the second-string guy. I need to start playing well just to get in the squad, let alone the team. I'm looking forward to the challenge, but it will be tough."