Sam Burgess said he was pleased to "get the monkey off the back" after scoring his first try for Bath in their 39-26 Premiership victory over Wasps at the Rec on Saturday.
Bath moved to within a point of leaders Northampton - who lost to Sale - thanks to a bonus-point win. Burgess, who started at inside centre as his union education continues apace, scored shortly after half-time. This was his finest performance in a Bath jersey since he made his debut off the bench six weeks ago.
"It was good," he said. "I am kind of glad to get the monkey off the back. I was happy to get over for the try. George [Ford] found me with a great pass, and I managed to slide over. I am improving week to week, and enjoying a bit more time on the field. Overall, I am happy with the way things are going, and there are things to work on, as always.
"We got some clean ball today, and I got my hands on the ball, which I enjoyed. I am used to the pressure. I came from quite a high pressure environment in Australia, and I am learning the game week by week, but pressure is fine. I kind of knew that would be the case. It's pressure in a game that I don't really know as well as the one I have come from, but all the time I am confident that I will learn."
Bath boss Mike Ford believes Burgess "is on the right track".
"Sam played his best game and he is definitely on the right track," Ford said. "We did some good stuff. It wasn't all correct, it wasn't all pretty, but we looked in control and I was pleased with our attacking structure throughout. We are still only scratching the surface with this team. It's exciting because we know we can get so much better."
As well as Burgess's score, there were tries for Francois Louw, Semesa Rokoduguni, Matt Banahan and Ollie Devoto, while fly-half Ford kicked 14 points. Wasps collected a bonus-pint by virtue of scoring four tries of their own.
"I thought that any time we put intensity into the game we controlled it. I was very pleased at 39-12 up," Ford copntinued. "Wasps had nothing to lose, they threw the ball about, so credit to them to get four tries, but we are pleased to get our five tries and five points. Where we are sitting in the league is very satisfying at the moment."
Wasps rugby director Dai Young, meanwhile, had no complaints about the result.
"To be honest, it was probably a commendable last 15 minutes," he said. "We could have rolled over and chucked the towel in, but I was really pleased with how we came back. We went away with a point, but I am not sure if we deserved or not, if I am quite honest. For 70 minutes, I thought we were second-best in most areas.
"They had us under pressure in the set-piece, we struggled to get any penetration with ball in hand, and we struggled to contain them when they had ball in hand. They were too powerful for us today in most areas. We weren't quite at the races. We didn't play anything like we can play.
"We have got to lick our wounds, go away and come back better next week. This league gives you a reality check very quickly. When you start thinking everything is rosy in the garden, you get your trousers pulled down."