Bath's star signing Butch James is hoping for a repeat performance at fly-half for his adopted club when they tackle Overmach Parma.
South African fly-half quickly into his stride at The Rec
Bath's star signing Butch James is hoping for a repeat performance at fly-half for his adopted club when they tackle Overmach Parma at the Recreation Ground on Saturday.
The South African No.10 marked his Bath debut in an opening European Challenge Cup win against Auch with a man-of-the-match performance, despite spending less than a week at his new club.
James simply cannot stop winning in France - but now the triumphant World Cup ace is keen to notch up his first "home" win in Round Two of the European tournament.
"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."
The former Shark scored a try on debut for his new club - a rarity for James with the majority of the 28-year-old's points coming from his boot.
"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," said James.
Important
"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."
James' experience and physicality will no doubt provide the team with more certainty and opportunity in a pool that also includes French side Albi.
His presence is set to help contribute towards Bath being a more dangerous team in attack which coach Steve Meehan believes will contribute to more try bonus points being scored.
But James is not looking too far ahead and is focusing all his attention to this weekend's match against a team he has never faced.
"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," said James.
"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 per cent for the Bath fans."
