World Cup-winning All Blacks flyhalf Stephen Donald produced a storming performance in his first European Cup performance for Bath and has now set his sights on claiming the scalp of defending champions Leinster next month.

Donald picked up the man of the match award in the clash with Montpellier on Saturday as he guided Bath to victory on home soil, and now he is hungry to test himself against the best in Europe when Bath meet Leinster in December.

"What is there not to get excited about playing the reigning champions with half the Irish team – I cannot wait for them to come to The Rec in the next round," admitted Donald.

The former Waikato Chiefs flyhalf was full of praise for the European Cup after tasting victory in his first match last weekend and added that he was more than aware of how important the win over Montpellier was.

He said: "I love the concept of the Heineken Cup and playing against different nationalities. It is a glamorous competition.

"I am loving it and it is true what they say that there are no easy games. We all have ambitions in the Heineken Cup and we knew that if we hadn't won at the weekend we would just have been making up the numbers," Donald explained.

The narrow 16-13 victory over the French side was exactly what Bath needed after their 26-21 loss to Glasgow in the first round and Donald made sure to acknowledge the strength of the opposition after the hard-fought win.

"Montpellier just kept on coming and coming in the second half and we had to hang on in the end. Learning how to win games is important and we really toughed it out.

"We stuffed it up in Glasgow and I think we showed we had learned from that defeat. Now it's back to some English Premiership action before we meet Leinster," he enthused.