James growing in belief as he shoulders scrum-half responsibility at Saints

The 30-year-old has taken on added responsibility with Alex Mitchell currently sidelined with a neck problem.

Youngster Archie McParland has provided back-up from the bench, with James starting the opening two matches of the Gallagher Premiership season.

And James said: "Especially as a half-back, when it's stop-start and you're getting minutes here and there, it is difficult to find a rhythm.

"It's been nice to get quite a few minutes under the belt, you can grow in confidence and there's elements of the game that it brings out more in you so it's good.

"It's all process driven, you play your own game and I always find it's much easier to start the game rather than being dropped into it when you're very cold.

"With that start, it's not that you warm into the game - you're at that pace from the get-go.

"We've got a good stable of nines, lots of competition for the shirt and I'm enjoying it at the moment.

"It's so important as half-backs that (you have depth) because you do so much running and at that 60-minute mark, it's a good thing you can change your nines.

"Arch (McParland) is similar to all our nines in that he can bring a lot of pace, a lot of impact off the bench."

The Saints scrum-halves haven't had it easy in the opening two matches as they've come up against a Bath side known for harassing opposition nines and an Exeter team who employ a blitz defence, limiting time on the ball.

"We knew Bath were going to do that - they're really good at it," James said.

"They stick to a plan and they did it really well in the final and again tried to do it (on the opening night).

"It can work for and against them. If they catch you at nine then it's tough to attack but it leaves a few holes around the breakdown and at the start of the second half we sort of found them.

"Exeter are very similar, it's difficult against that blitz defence, especially at nine. You want to get your running game going but it's difficult if they're blitzing that first man.

"It was two tough teams but we still attacked pretty well and there's stuff we can be happy about."

This week's opposition at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens will be free-flowing Harlequins.

And James said: "In the Prem, there's no easy games.

"Harlequins offer a different picture to Exeter but they're playing well.

"It's a double-edged sword because it can be quite open but you can fall into a trap against them of being a little bit too loose.

"It's about sticking to process and not getting caught in that loose battle because it can get away from you a bit.

"We've just got to worry about what we're doing process wise and moving up the field well."