Butch James simply cannot stop winning in France - but now the triumphant World Cup outside half is keen to notch up his first "home" win for Bath Rugby.
Butch James simply cannot stop winning in France - but now the triumphant World Cup outside half is keen to notch up his first "home" win for Bath Rugby when they tackle Overmach Rugby Parma at The Recreation Ground on Saturday in Round 2 of the European Challenge Cup.
The South African No 10 marked his Bath debut in the Round 1 win at Auch with a try-scoring Man-of-the-Match display despite having less than a week with his new club.
"It has all been a bit crazy, finishing the World Cup, getting myself packed up and finally over to Bath," said James
"I only arrived at the club at the beginning of the week but I have trained and worked hard to get a feel for the way we play and what is needed of me so to have been able to play in the first round was great for me. The guys have really welcomed me and I feel I have fitted in pretty well.
"It was good to get into things nice and early on and scoring a try - I don't score many of those - was really great.
"I didn't know too much about the European Challenge Cup until I signed with Bath, then I started looking at the teams who are in it and, as soon as I arrived, I could see straight away that it's really important to the guys.
"I know that last year the boys made it to the final and that's certainly an aim for us again this year. We should believe we can come through this Pool and hopefully get a home quarter-final which would be great.
"Now I am really looking forward to playing my first game at the Rec. I've heard a lot about the match day atmosphere and it will be great to be able to play in front of even more Bath fans. There were a good number in Auch and they certainly made themselves heard.
"My immediate goal is to train hard this week and hopefully get myself into the side for Saturday's game. We had a strong game against Auch but there are things I know I want to work on for next week.
"We will no doubt be doing some analysis in the run-up to the game against Overmach and obviously they are a side I have not played against.
"However, they have a few Italian internationals in their squad and Manoa Vosawai played in the World cup so he could be a threat in the back row.
"And you can never under-estimate the Italians. More than anything I'm looking forward to a weekend at the Rec and a chance to play and put in 100% for the Bath fans."
