Veteran Bristol fly-half AJ MacGinty is savouring the special feeling of winning a game again after returning to the Bears side having missed almost all of last season through injury.

MacGinty started for the Bears and played 58 minutes of their opening round win away at Sale last Saturday, his first start since the opening day of last season when he suffered a ruptured Achilles.

The 36-year-old returned to the team in May as the 2025-26 campaign drew to a close but picked up a calf injury that set him back again.

“I watched a lot of rugby from the sideline pretty much the whole year and as much as it’s nice that you’re coming in, you’re not really involved,” he told BBC Radio Bristol.

“Even the feeling of winning a game is special, being with the lads. You’re not really feel a part of it when you’re not playing or have the injury so, yeah, it’s a really special feeling to be back.”

The American international is still managing the calf injury, which is why he is not yet able to make it through 80 minutes of a game.

“I’m still facing a bit of cramp in my right calf and so it’s just working on that for the next few weeks,” he added.

“I don’t know if that’s load or it could be more nutrition, or overusing it but hopefully from my own standpoint I’ll be able to get through 80 [soon].”

MacGinty is in his fifth season with Bristol having signed a new deal with the club in May to remain until the end of this season.

The game last Saturday was his 60th for the club, having previously played for Sale and Connacht.

He cited former Wasps fly-half Jimmy Gopperth’s return from an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in 2017, when he was 35, as something that helped him believe he could return to playing despite the injury being so serious at this stage of his career.

“I probably draw inspiration from Jimmy Gopperth – he was playing until he was 42,” MacGinty said.

“I haven’t had that ambition or that vision for myself to play into my forties but the body last year was all about rehab and getting it right and then I have the opportunity to play again this year which is which is amazing.”

MacGinty has been capped 36 times by the USA and played in the 2015 and 2019 World Cup for the Eagles, starting all seven games.

However they missed out on qualification for the 2023 tournament and MacGinty said making it to the 2027 World Cup in Australia next year is a target – it has been even since before he signed his first professional contract.

“I was still an amateur [and] I was like, ‘I want to go to four World Cups’,” MacGinty said.

“Sadly I didn’t get to go to the one in in France so it is an ambition of mine to go to the next World Cup.”

How things unfold for MacGinty after the season ends with Bristol he still does not know. Although whenever his playing days do end, MacGinty wants to move to the other side of a team into coaching.

“In terms of being fit and healthy for this year I feel great and then how it unfolds after that I’m not I’m not too sure,” he said.

“I have an ambition to go into coaching as well and so I don’t know if I continue playing or focus on getting on the coaching ladder.”