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From Cardiff, to London, to Toulouse to Brive - Rugby Rugby.com's Andy Goode is back on club duty after England's loss to Wales. He talks about the Six Nations, the 'defection' of England's top players to France and life back in the Top 14 this Saturday.

Bonjour all; it's been quite a busy few days and after two weeks of RBS Six Nations action and I now find myself back in Brive preparing for a tough Top 14 fixture against Biarritz this coming weekend.

I must say, it's rather exciting to be back at Brive and I am as determined as ever to perform for the club.

As I have written before on these very pages, I would not have been back in the England side were it not my new club and I would love nothing more than rewarding their faith in me with a match-winning performance against a dangerous Biarritz side.

Imanol Harinordoquy and Damien Traille are just two of the many big names in the Biarritz side - a case of enough said?! - but I've been hard at work already catching up on the latest training ground moves and, of course, brushing up on the French! (There really is nothing worse than missing out on French lessons when trying to learn the language!)

There are not many easy games in the Top 14, which is rather interesting if you ask me, with the French club game having been in the news all of this week - what with the announcements that James Haskell, Tom Palmer and Riki Flutey would be hopping across the channel next season to play their rugby at Brive (Flutey) and Stade Français (Haskell and Palmer).

I must say, the over-the-top media coverage aside, I don't see the issue with the guys opting to play their club rugby in France...

In fact, I think it will make them better players and people - provided, of course, that they immerse themselves in their new surroundings and embrace the culture in the area they will be joining.

Playing wise I think the Top 14 is on par with the Guinness Premiership. Some people might get the wrong end of the stick when it comes to French rugby because of some of the French sides' performances in the Heineken Cup. (The Heineken Cup tends to take second place to the Top 14, which, already has produced some amazing games this season.)

Also, when it comes to all the talk (in the media) of the money that Haskell and co. will be getting, I cannot help but chuckle. I know for a fact that James Haskell is not getting the kind of money being bandied about in the press and speaking to him last week before the Welsh game, the offers he was getting from English clubs were as competitive as those from Stade.

Yes, it could be a risk. He might hate it in Paris. But then again, he could have moved to Sale and not enjoyed life in Manchester. It's a risk you take when you move clubs - it either works or it doesn't and it has nothing to do with moving from England to France or vice versa.

What Haskell is doing, however, is joining a top-class club, which not only boasts a bunch of high-quality back row players (Parisse, Leguizamón, Taylor, Bergamasco), but he will also experience regular league games at the Stade de France in front of 80,000-odd spectators.

You don't get that very often in the Guinness Premiership and experiences like that will serve only to make him a better player at Test level for England.

All the guys - Haskell, Palmer and Flutes - have had all their EPS release dates drawn up into their contracts, so they will be able to attend all England training days and be available for all England Test matches. Where is the problem with all of this I ask?!

From an entirely selfish point of view, I am pretty excited with Flutes's decision to move to Brive. I have gotten to know him over the past few weeks, but have played a bit of rugby against him in the Premiership when he was with London Irish and Wasps, and I think he's a top-class player, who will add plenty to the club.

Of course, from my point of view, hopefully it will continue to forge our partnership in the crucial 10-12 axis, which would only augur well for both of us in terms of our England aspirations.

Flutes's wife and kids are due in Brive this week, so I look forward to meeting up with them and showing them around - no doubt with Sonja and Ella-Grace's help, too!!

I thought Flutes was particularly good against Wales in Cardiff on Saturday. He showed against the Welsh that is a quality international inside centre in a game that we could well have won. Yes, we showed glimpses and, yes, we are on the right track, but it was still very disappointing to go down to Wales in the end after a fantastic team effort on the night.

A lot of people wrote us off in the build-up to the Wales game, but we knew that we could get a positive result if we played to the best of our ability.

Well, we very nearly did that, but we don't go out there to run teams close and improve, we go out there to win and that's why there were 22 VERY disappointed England players at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday evening.

On a personal level, I thought I did enough to perhaps be retained for the game against Ireland at Croke Park next weekend, but only time will tell if I can hold onto the No.10 shirt, especially with a quality player like Toby Flood yapping at my heels!

I'm no different to any other rugby player out there though - I want to hold onto that England flyhalf spot for as long as possible, so hopefully I can continue with another start against Ireland.

For now, however, all my attention will be on Saturday's game against Biarritz. They are just three places below us on the Top 14 standings, but a win for us will see us keep the pressure on Montferrand (fourth) and Bayonne (fifth) - the teams just ahead of us on the table.

Until next week,
Goodey