Mathis Julien

Among the youngest prospects in the Racing 92 set-up, Mathis Julien is a teenage back-row forward at the Parisian Top 14 club. Born on 12 July 2007, Julien is at the very start of his journey through one of French rugby's best-resourced academies, where he is learning the demands of senior flanker play. His game is built on the staples of the position: energy and work rate at the breakdown, a willingness to tackle and the developing ball-carrying physicality that loose forwards are asked to provide. At a club with the ambition and depth of Racing 92, the pathway to first-team rugby is fiercely competitive, and Julien's focus is on the foundations — conditioning, contact technique, support play and turnover craft — that turn a promising youngster into a professional. Still years from his physical peak, he represents one of the academy's longer-term projects, with the athleticism and appetite for the contest that clubs look for in a modern back-rower. His progress will be measured in patient, incremental steps.