James puts his name in record books

The former Wales and Lions wing raced 30 metres in the 33rd minute to write his name in the record books and pave the way for an impressive opening night for the Scarlets.

Now in his 11th season of European rugby James finally won the race to be the first player to score 25 tries in the Heinken Cup on his 51st appearance.

His first Heineken Cup try came for Pontypridd at Sardis Road on 7 September 1997. On that day his team, Pontypridd were beaten 21-15 by bath, but there was no stopping the Scarlets on their return to the Madejski Stadium.

If there had been agony for James and his team-mates on their previous visit, when they were pipped 31-28 by Northampton Saints in the 2000 semi-final, then there was ecstasy this time as they broke a run of four successive away defeats in the tournament and picked up a bonus point as well.

"Its fantastic to finally get to 25 tries and pick up the award. When you look at the quality of some of the players who have been around in this tournament then it is a big honour," said James.

"I've trained and worked hard over the years, but you can't do anything without a good team around you.

"I really enjoyed scoring that try and it bought back happy memories of the one I scored here in 2000.

"I know I've scored for a number of clubs in the past, but I'm with the Scarlets now and that's al that matters.

"This is a fantastic group of players and hopefully we can go all the way this year."

James won the race to the top award, he topped Toulouse favourite Michel Marfaing who ended agonisingly close in his 38 appearances between 1996-2003, scoring 24.

The Llanelli Scarlets wing-cum-centre Dafydd James joined him on the figure with his tries against Toulouse and London Wasps last season.
James score sees him beat the other three main candidates this season - James, Munster No 8 Anthony Foley, Toulouse wing Vincent Clerc and Northampton Saints wing Ben Cohen. Here is a look at the try scoring records of the top four players who are still involved in the Heineken Cup ahead of this season's tournament.

HEINEKEN CUP LEADING TRY SCORERS
25 - Dafydd James, Michel Marfaing
22 - Anthony Foley
21 - Emile Ntamack
20 - Vincent Clerc, Ben Cohen
19 - Leon Lloyd
18 - Gordon D'Arcy, Christophe Dominici, Denis Hickie, Shane Horgan
17 - Nicolas Brusque, Kenny Logan, Tom Voyce
16 - Neil Back, Thomas Lombard, Geordan Murphy, Brian O'Driscoll
15 - Pascal Bomati, Gareth Wyatt James needs just one more try to pick up an ERC Elite Award.

DAFYDD JAMES (Llanelli Scarlets) - 24 Tries

Dafydd James is in his 11th season of European rugby. This is his ninth season in the Heineken Cup. Tonight will be his 51st appearance in the tournament - he also has six games in the European Challenge Cup.
His first Heineken Cup try came at Sardis Road on 7 September, 1997 when Pontypridd were beaten 21-15 at home by Bath. He scored five tries in seven games that season for Pontypridd and a further four the following season in another seven matches.
In 1999/2000 he switched to Llanelli Scarlets and scored his first European try for them in the 36-30 win over Bourgoin at Stade Pierre Rajon on 8 January, 2000.
He scored twice in that game and then scored twice more as the Scarlets went all the way to the semi-finals.
He was a try scorer at the Madejski Stadium in the semi-final in 2000 against Northampton Saints when the Scarlets lost 31-28.
He scored eight tries in 14 games for the Scarlets before transferring to Bridgend for the 2001/2002 campaign, when he scored twice in four appearances in the Heineken Cup.
When Bridgend merged with Pontypridd to former the Celtic Warriors in 2003/2004 he scored once in six outings.
When the Warriors were disbanded he moved to NEC Harlequins, scoring twice for them in six games in the 2004/2005 tournament.
He returned to Stradey Park at the start of last season and added two tries in six games to take his Scarlets tally to 10 tries in 20 Heineken Cup games. The most games he has gone without scoring in the Heineken Cup is six - the last five games with Celtic Warriors in 2003/2004 and the first match for NEC Harlequins in 2004/2005.

ANTHONY FOLEY (Munster) - 22 Tries

Anthony Foley is the most capped player in the history of the Heineken Cup having played in 76 of his side's 77 matches - including leading them to victory in last season's final at the Millennium Stadium. He has scored more tries than any other forward and has one hat-trick to his credit.
This is his 12th consecutive season in the tournament and he has only failed to score in two of the previous 11. That was in the inaugural season and in 1998/1999.
His first try came at Cardiff Arms Park in a 48-18 defeat on 16 October, 1996. His greatest series of games without scoring is 10 between 4 October, 1997 and 28 November, 1999.
His hat-trick came in the quarter-final of the 2000/2001 season when they beat Biarritz Olympique 38-29 at Thomond Park. He also scored a try in the 2004 semi-final defeat against London Wasps at Lansdowne Road.

The Toulouse wing has been joint top scorer in the Heineken Cup in two of the four seasons he has played to date. He was joint first with six last season, along with Sereli Bobo and Felipe Contepomi, and joint first with seven in 2002/2003, along with Garan Evans.
He scored two tries on his Heineken Cup debut against London Irish at Stade Ernest Wallon in a 28-23 win on 12 October, 2002. He scored seven tries that season, including one in the final win over Perpignan at Lansdowne Road.
He has two hat-tricks to his credit, including four against Llanelli Scarlets last season at Stradey Park. His first hat-trick also came in Wales, against the Ospreys at The Gnoll on 16 January, 2004.
In his 32 appearances to date, his longest sequence without a try has been six games - the semi-final and final of 2004 and the first four rounds of 2004/2005. He has two Heineken Cup winners' medals to his name.

BEN COHEN (Northampton Saints) - 20 Tries

England World Cup winning wing Ben Cohen is back for his seventh season in the Heineken Cup. Among his 41 appearances prior to the start of this season is one in the 2000 Heineken Cup final for Northampton Saints in their win over Munster at Twickenham in 2000.
He has scored in every season in which he has played in Europe, including two European Challenge Cup campaigns, and his worst run without scoring in the Heineken Cup is four games on two occasions.
He scored his first Heineken Cup try in the 20-18 win in Grenoble on 27 November, 1999 and notched his first hat-trick in the 32-24 home Pool win over Biarritz Olympique in January, 2001.
He grabbed another hat-trick against French opposition in the 2003/2004 campaign when Agen visited Franklin's Gardens on a day the Saints won 25-10.