The New Zealand-born lock made his Scotland debut in the summer tour to Argentina, where he helped Frank Hadden's side to a drawn series.

But before the second rower could start his claims for a place in Hadden's squad for the Autumn internationals and then the RBS 6 Nations, he had to have minor surgery on his knee.

He said: "The first three weeks of pres season were nice and tough as you would expect, but I managed to miss a few sessions after having a wee clean-out operation on my knee. That just meant that I was doing a lot more upper body weights than running during the first couple of weeks.

"With the new season just around the corner, I am really looking forward to getting stuck in. It all starts with our warm up match against London Wasps on Saturday.

"Then we've got Heineken Cup winners Munster at home in the Celtic League and then our first home game in the European Cup is against Leinster. I really want to continue the form that I showed towards the end of last season and on the tour."