Dingwall happy to be surrounded by so many Saints team-mates for England return

Dingwall, who won his two England caps in wins over Italy and Wales in last year's Guinness Six Nations, will make his first appearance in this year's tournament when he starts at centre against Italy at Allianz Stadium on Sunday (kick-off 3pm).

And he will have plenty of familiar faces around him as Alex Mitchell, Fin Smith, Ollie Sleightholme and Tommy Freeman are also in the first 15 for Steve Borthwick's side.

"It's really cool for two reasons," Dingwall said. "From the rugby side, we have great connections and I hope I can add to the good stuff they have all been doing.

"But also because those guys are my mates, so to be able to do it with them just makes the whole occasion more special.

"It's a nice reflection for the club as well in what they have been doing and how there are a lot of people developing because the club has had success in recent times."

Dingwall has certainly had to be patient when it comes to England game time, despite being a key figure in the Saints side that won the Gallagher Premiership last season.

However, he did captain England A to victory against Australia A at the Twickenham Stoop back in November and has regularly been training with the main team in recent months.

And now he is looking forward to more Six Nations action, having created some memorable moments last year, including scoring in the win against Wales.

"Last year was unbelievable," he added. "It was the first time I had played in forever. I had been in and around the squad but never managed to play.

"I had some really good experiences beating Italy and Wales, but then Ollie (Lawrence) was back fit.

"The feedback I got at the time was that I had played well but the starting two were then available.

"You can kind of accept that as the coaches' preference and I was thrilled I was able to fulfil my dream and get a good shot at it.

"But since then I've been pushing to try and get back in as much as I can and it's not been as quick as I had hoped, but it has always tracked towards this moment."

England go into this weekend's game after narrow wins against France and Scotland, which followed the opening-day defeat in Ireland.

But they are well aware that beating Italy will be no easy task.

"There is no doubting Italy are still a very good team," Dingwall told BBC Sport.

"They would be disappointed with the France game but they have shown enough over the previous matches that they have lots of talent and some dangerous individuals.

"It isn't a game of old (against Italy) and it's a challenge we are looking forward to."