James delighted to have seized his opportunity (From Campaign Series)

James delighted to have seized his opportunity

6:35pm Sunday 10th March 2013 in Wales rugby By Iwan Davies

WALES loosehead prop Paul James seized on the opportunity Gethin Jenkins’ calf injury presented him by having a blinder in the win over Scotland.

The 30-year-old Bath player had a great game in the tight as the visitors dominated the scrum at Murrayfield.

Wales must wait to see if Jenkins is fit to face England in five days’ time.

But they have a gem of an understudy in James who won his 44th cap in Edinburgh.

“It has been disappointing for Wales that Gethin got injured,” he said.

“But it opened the door for me and I thought I did quite well. It is good I suppose to keep the pressure on each other.

“It will be up to the coaches next weekend and we will see what happened.

“We have been going well as a pack whoever starts the game and it is an exciting challenge.”

James knew the Scots would be a tough nut to crack as they aimed to win their third game in a row.

“We knew it was going to be a dog fight but we dug in and got the result,” he said.

“We stuck to what he asked us to do before the game. We were dominant and overall and I thought it went well.”

He added: “The overall penalty count was high which we can’t afford to do in international rugby and we will go away and look at that.

“But on the whole we stuck at it and we got the win. We kept our discipline in the scrum and did not engage early.”

The challenge England’s pack present means no respite because Wales will face an even sterner test this Saturday.

“The front five will be massive against England,” he said.

“They are very strong up front and they will target that area and try and match us. We need just to front up. We have been going well as a front five and we just need to carry on what we have been doing.”