Jamie Roberts fit again and ready to perform surgery on wounded Racing Metro after thrashing against Harlequins Roberts is one of a trio of Welsh Lions at the money-bags, born-again Parisian club, aiming to eclipse the achievements of Stade Francais in the French capital by attracting star names and attention. Mike Phillips is the latest recruit, Roberts arriving with back-row forward Dan Lydiate after their brief break following the Lions tour. Roberts has no truck with those who question his decision to leave Wales. What was a trickle of players heading overseas has quickly turned into a flood. "Look, no-one suggests Spain's World Cup hopes are damaged by having their footballers in the Premier League, or of Germany's chances going down the pan because Mesut Ozil is at Arsenal," said Roberts. I don't see a problem. All release dates, for training camps as well as matches, are in the contract. I'd done the same thing in Cardiff for eight years: same routine, same route to work, same environment. Nothing wrong with it but I was stale. I was ready to fly the nest. You can't force people to stay. If they are not happy, they will not play well. Of course we all wish the scene back home was more commercially robust and fans could see their heroes in action. There needs to be resolution on that front. For me, this is the move of a lifetime. I'm a City boy, Paris is wonderful and this is a very ambitious club. It was a great move. I wanted to be taken out of my comfort zone, be challenged, and that has certainly been the case. Roberts deliberately located himself in the centre of Paris, in the fashionable 7th arrondissement, just off Boulevard Saint Germain, and not in the suburbs close by Racing's state-of-the-art training complex where the likes of Lydiate and Ireland fly-half Jonny Sexton live. "I wanted to force myself to get by on my own, away from the temptation of other English speakers," said Roberts, who uses a motorised scooter to get to work, a guaranteed 25-minute transit time as opposed to hours battling through Parisian traffic jams in a car. I want this to be a home-from-home, but of course you walk down the street and everyone is speaking French. It sounds daft but you can feel isolated. The reality is, though, that I pinch myself every morning to wake up to all this. He awoke to something less appealing last Sunday morning, the cloud of gloom that descended on the club in the wake of their 32-8 Heineken Cup drubbing by 'Quins in Nantes. The match was a designated home tie but Racing moved it to the west of France to promote their brand. The upshot of a calamitous day is that they are now not prepared to move their next big-occasion match against Toulon on December a few kilometres round the Peripherique to the Stade de France, which had been booked for the festive game. "The Stade de France is reserved for great teams and we do not belong there at the moment," read a terse club statement issued on behalf of ambitious owner, Jacky Lorenzetti. "It was difficult watching and it's been a tough week," said Roberts. As a senior player, I'd usually speak up at meetings but the language is tricky so I've tried to influence things in training. We were second best in everything. We are out to rectify that at the Stoop. French domestic rugby takes some getting used to: stodgy as hell one week, whizzing about like 7s the next. Roberts, 27, has his sights set on making a major contribution over the next three years of his contract. This is no vanity project for him. "Racing are ambitious and so am I," he said. I want to win things and I want to be in form. Racing and Wales go together. I love being on rugby tours. That was how the Lions was - new blokes, different backdrops, brilliant. This is like a three-year tour. If the club goes well, then I'm in the right shape. The 2015 World Cup is a big target. Losing that 2011 semi-final to France hurts more with each passing day. Roberts passed his medical exams this year to qualify as a doctor. He has no plans for part-time practice in Paris. There is enough surgery to help perform on Racing Metro. That process begins again on Sunday.