James blow for Blues

The international wing will be out for around six weeks with a broken bone in his foot while the Blues are sweating on the scan results for Dan Fish.

James has made 28 Heineken Cup appearances for the Blues since his debut against Munster in 2006 and featured in the tournament matches against Sale Sharks and Toulon this season.

Now they face the double French test with Montpellier, Director of Rugby Phil Davies declaring: "Since the start of the season we have got better week in week out but we have not had the rewards on the scoreboard, which is the most important thing, as obviously we want to win every game.

"It was a really good game against Zebre last weekend. I thought we played very, very well and if we had been a bit more clinical we could have scored three or four more tries.

"We have said since the start of the season that we are in transition and we have a lot of young players coming through.

"What we have done over the last few months, although it has been painful at times with some of the results, is create some depth and given a lot of players opportunities.

"We have given opportunities to 14 players many of whom are under the age of 22. This is good for us and the sort of experience we are gaining with them will help us."