Thursday 9 October 2014 16:53, UK
The big thing for us this week has been the deeply upsetting and unacceptable performance against Bordeaux-Begles.
You have to give them credit because they played some good rugby, but we didn't turn up - we just weren't there and that’s where the coaches were disappointed with us. We have to ensure that when we go to these tough places we are switched on.
This week we've been talking a lot about starting the game against La Rochelle strongly. On a few occasions this past Saturday Bordeaux-Begles turned the ball over when we were in their 22, or we just lost the ball. These are the small things that can swing momentum, and once Bordeaux-Begles got ahead of us, we were unable to get back into it.
When you lose you have to take some lessons from the game, and try to figure out why you lost. Against Bordeaux-Begles we were narrow in defence at times which gave them space to play the ball out wide. We will work on trying to improve that this week, but we're not looking to rewrite the book.
The style we've implemented as a squad has worked for us so far this season. The problem we had over the weekend was that we were just expecting things to happen on the field, and we know we have to go and make them happen.
You do get a feeling when you look at the results that this will be a hotly-contested Top 14. There have already been a few upsets and teams who are traditionally strong at home have lost a game or two in their own back yard. There isn’t much between the teams in the top half of the table either.
The log is always up on the wall at the club, so going into some big European games as log leaders of France would be a huge boost for us.
This weekend is the last round of fixtures before we enter the new European competition, so we want to finish this period of the season on a high. The log is always up on the wall at the club, so going into some big European games as log leaders of France would be a huge boost for us.
In order for that to happen we have to beat La Rochelle this weekend but we also need another result to go our way; we need Toulouse to beat Toulon. Toulouse recorded their first win of the season this past weekend but hopefully they can do us a favour this Saturday! It looks set to be a huge game.
My Welsh team-mate Leigh Halfpenny looks set to make his debut for Toulon in the game which for him will be a massive boost. There’s been a lot of speculation about his time at Toulon and his future.
To be honest I haven’t spoken to him about it but knowing him the way I do, he’ll have wanted to do justice to the investment that the club has made in him - he prides himself as a thorough professional.
So it’s great news for him that the coaches have put him in the squad for the game and hopefully he gets some time on the pitch and he can finally get back to having his rugby do the talking.
After this weekend we will shift our focus to the European competition and our opening encounter against Saracens. I haven't had much of a chance to watch the English Premiership this season but I have been keeping up with the results and Saracens seem to be playing well and are getting some good wins.
There will be a lot for us to talk about when we go to Allianz Park next week as it is a tough encounter, but if we can get some confidence and momentum back this weekend then we feel that we can go over there and put in a good performance - and come away with the result.
It will be a big ask, but with the squad we have, we have to expect that we can go to these places and get victories. Our home form is pretty strong but if we're going to qualify for the knock-out stages of the tournament then we will need to win those games away from home.
Off the field, my French lessons are ongoing but picking up the language is still very slow! It's going to take a while. I expected it to come a bit quicker but I don't think I appreciated the difficulty of picking up a whole new language.
The big thing over here is just about making an effort; the boys appreciate it if you even say little phrases in French. Though with that said you do feel a little bit small when you say something that's maybe a bit stupid and everyone looks at you like you're from a different planet!
