Bath centre Hape looks set to miss out through injury

Shontayne Hape looks set to miss Bath's trip to Saracens on Sunday – and says he will be devastated if injury breaks his momentum.

The former rugby league star shone during Bath's 45-8 Guinness Premiership derby win over Bristol last weekend – but tweaked medial ligaments in his knee and is now struggling to face Saracens.

The New Zealander's starring role at inside centre against Bristol followed up an impressive display at Worcester in his previous outing three weeks earlier.

After switching codes last summer, he is beginning to look the part as a union player after 10 first-team outings in the 15-man game. But it looks like he will have to wait at least one week to make that 11 after being injured at the weekend.

"I think I might be injured for this weekend's game, so I'm a bit gutted about that," said Hape.

"I tweaked my medial ligaments, so I might be out for one or two weeks – I'm hoping it's just one week.

"Once you play one week, you want to play the week after to build momentum and gain confidence.

"The nice weather is starting to come out now, too, so the ball is being chucked around a bit more – and you definitely want to be playing these games. That makes it hard to take when you are injured."

Hape has had to wait patiently for his chance at the Recreation Ground since joining from Bradford Bulls.

It was late October before he made his first start for the club – and late November before he was given a Premiership start.

But he is starting to show why head coach Steve Meehan was so keen to bring him across from the Bulls – and he insists there is much more to come.

"I think I'm on track and that's the main thing," said Hape, who won 14 rugby league caps for New Zealand.

"I don't want to set my goals too high or too low, but I'm positive about where I am at the moment.

"I'm getting some positive feedback from the coaches and I think the fans are starting to take to me and realise what I am about. But I know I've still got a lot to learn – there's more to come.

"Where we're sitting in the table is quite positive, we're in reach of the top four, and personally I really want to kick on now."

Hape accepts that his introduction to union has been eased by playing between Butch James and Alex Crockett. World Cup winner James calls the shots from fly-half, while club captain Crockett provides a positive influence at outside centre.

And Hape said: "Playing outside Butch, you don't have to do too much – you just go with the flow!

"He normally makes the right decisions. He gives good direction and plays with instinct – you know something is always going to happen so you've got to be aware of stuff like that.

"I'm still learning, so having guys like Butch and Crocks alongside is really helping me a lot."

And his next target, after overcoming his slight knee problem, is to earn a regular place in the Bath starting line-up.

"My goal is to play week in, week out, and you ask any rugby player – whether they are new or old to the game – and that is what they want to do," he said.

"It's what we train for all week. I want to get that starting berth on a regular basis and that is definitely my aim."