"I'd like to help our team get promoted to the top division next season," Japan international rugby player Wataru Murata said contentedly Wednesday in Tokyo after completing his first season with French League side Aviron Bayonnais in the so-called Champagne Rugby.

Murata became the first Japanese player to ever play in the French League, joining second-division club Aviron last November on a year-and-a-half contract from Japanese rugby powerhouse Toshiba Fuchu. The two-time French champion finished second last season, just missing promotion to the first division. "I've enjoyed French rugby, which I had always wished to play in so much," said Murata. "I struggled with the French language at the beginning. But I now manage to communicate at daily life level." Murata, who has played for Japan 24 times since his international debut in 1991, relied on years of rugby experience to counter the language barrier he initially faced. He soon won a regular place in the team. The 32-year-old scrum-half played in 17 matches and scored three tries, including two in his debut on Dec. 5.

Murata, one of two professional players on the club last season, has become a famous figure in a small southern French town near the Spanish border. "I think people in the town have started to like me. People are friendly and they kept asking me if I would move to another club late in the season," Murata says.