Fraser Dingwall: Northampton centre hopes they can ‘kickstart’ winning run

Dingwall was not involved when Saints lost 24-8 at Leicester earlier in the season, a game notable for how many times they crossed the Tigers line but were unable to ground the ball.

“That Welford Road game was gutting, we got the ball over the line four or five times and just couldn’t quite manage to score,” he said.

“That was a bit of a blip and we’ve had a few, so we’ll be keen to right some wrongs on Friday.”

Saints are eighth in the table and nine points adrift of fourth-placed Tigers in the race for the play-offs and as well as Dingwall, Dowson has decided that fly-half Fin Smith will also be in his starting XV.

Tommy Freeman and Alex Mitchell are rested, and Ollie Sleightholme has been ruled out by injury, but he will have the option of introducing Alex Coles and Henry Pollock from the bench.

“The tougher part is trying to transition from playing with different people to being chucked straight back into your club team, you have to reintegrate very quickly into how we want to play and our patterns,” said Dingwall.

He has been described as a ‘glue player’ by England coach Steve Borthwick, but the 25-year-old regards that as a compliment.

“It’s very much [about] how I can bring everything together or make the backline function as best as possible,” he added.

“If my main involvement is making the team function as best as they can and bring out the best of some of the really talented people around me, I’m quite happy to take that.”