James relishing the Munster challenge

IT is games like this afternoon's Champions Cup Round of 16 clash against Munster that Tom James hankered for while he was playing in the Championship at Bedford and Doncaster.

- JON NEWCOMBE

Having proved himself in the second tier and signed for Northamp ton at the height of the Covid restrictions in the summer of 2020, the opportunity to play in front of a raucous Franklin's Gardens crowd had been initially denied to the scrum-half.

But that won't be the case today with Saints' fans needing to be in full voice to drown out the Munster hordes that will undoubtedly make the trip over the Irish Sea.

It should make for a brilliant atmosphere, even with the lunchtime kick-off, and James can't wait to be involved following last week's morale-boosting win over Saracens.

"The first one-and-a half if not two seasons I was in the Premiership there were either no crowds or very little crowds, so it was a strange sort of start to my Premiership career," he said.

"The reason you do it are for games like last Friday and games like Sunday the big occasions. It's definitely a privilege to be out there."

Having seen their table-topping team thrashed 52-21 by Bristol in their first Premiership game back after the international break, Saints' fans were in wonderland at the nature of the response against Saracens.

Saints were in scintillating form and gave an appreciative full house at Franklin's Gardens full value for money with a 41-30 win.

"They've been awesome," James said of the Saints fans, who are loving the five-month unbeaten home run.