Dingwall discusses his availability for Saints' game against Exeter Chiefs
Fraser Dingwall has confirmed he is ready to play a part for Saints in Sunday's Gallagher PREM season opener against Exeter Chiefs at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens.
The England centre has been battling injuries since the end of last season, with a calf problem denying him the chance to go on the Red Rose's summer tour.
He then suffered a hamstring injury on his return to Saints, meaning he has been unable to feature during pre-season.
But speaking to BBC Northampton's Saints Show on Wednesday night, Dingwall revealed he is now fully fit ahead of this weekend's league curtain raiser.
"I played in the Champions Cup final and that's the last game I played because the week after we were at Gloucester and I didn't play in that," Dingwall said.
"We then had a week before going into camp and did training for ourselves at home, and then first day of camp I did my calf, and that ruled me out for the summer, so I spent the first two weeks of my off-season rehabbing that.
"I then went away for a few weeks, came back and did my hammy on my second day at Saints, so that took me until last week, but I'm all good now.
"It's actually been quite beneficial for me because I was carrying a lot of other stuff and actually to iron out things going on with my body and get into a decent spot has actually been quite beneficial.
"Last season, I was kind of carrying loads of things throughout the whole year. I struggled with my knee from the first PREM game all the way to probably February time, when I eventually had a steroid injection and that settled it down.
"Last year was a combination of loads of things going on so to have a bit of time completely away from contact and a bit of time in the gym, it has been quite beneficial."
Reflecting on missing out on England's summer clashes with Argentina and USA, Dingwall said: "It was very annoying because after the Six Nations and those final two games, I felt like I'd put myself in a good spot and I'd worked hard to get to that spot.
"Argentina was all about backing that up and cementing it for me so not being able to go out there was frustrating, but these things happen.
"You get back to the club and you see boys who have 10 or 11-month injuries and it puts it into perspective.
"When I got back and I was moaning, Sam Graham said to me ‘you can't catch a break’ and I was like 'you've just been out for 10 months so I'm not going to moan to you'!"