Cruel scenario for Julien Marchand who was injured in the first minutes of France – New Zealand.
Hard blow for the XV of France. On a ruck, Stade Toulousain hooker Julien Marchand was injured and had to leave his partners after a few minutes of the game. If his face seemed to be serious when he left, it was because he suspected probably from the nature of his injury. At a press conference, Fabien Galthié, coach of the XV of France confirmed a “tear on a hyperextension”. Is his World Cup over? “I can tell you more. We can imagine a muscular problem in the hamstring” relaunched Fabien Galthié
Julien Marchand was born on May 10, 1995 in Loures-Barousse, a small village in the Haute-Pyrénées. It was therefore quite natural that he took up rugby in his youth. He took his first license near his home, at US Montréjeau-Gourdan-Polignan in 2004, at the age of 9, where he played for five years before joining the Stade Toulousain training center in 2009. Julien Marchand made his first professional appearance at the age of 19, during the 2014-2015 season.
In his position as a hooker, it is not usual to start too young and he therefore increases the number of appearances during several seasons, refining his training. It was only from the 2016-2017 season that the native of Loures-Barousse truly earned his starting place at Stade Toulouse. The club trusted him by not recruiting anyone after the departure of South African hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle and Julien Marchand confirms the hopes placed in him.
A pure product of the Toulouse training center, Julien Marchand was even named captain for the 2018-2019 season after the retirement of the emblematic Florian Fritz. During this season, he was called up for the first time with the France team, after selections for the under-20s and the Barbarians, but suffered a serious knee injury at the start of 2019 with the Blues, which deprived him of the Cup of the world 2019 in Japan. Having returned very well, the hooker has since been one of the executives of this new French team but also of the Stade Toulouse.
At 28 years old, Julien Marchand already has a very good track record, whether at club or with the XV of France. With Stade Toulouse, he achieved the Top 14-European Cup double in 2021 after winning the Brennus Shield for the first time in 2019 then a third time in 2023, while he won the VI Nations tournament with the Blues in 2022, by achieving the Grand Slam. He has 31 selections with the Blues.
Although he sometimes played in other positions during his youth and training, Julien Marchand has the perfect size to play as a hooker in modern rugby. The Stade Toulouse player measures 1m81 and weighs almost 110 kilos.
Julien Marchand is not the only professional rugby player in the family. Guillaume Marchand, aged 25, is also a hooker and followed the same path as his big brother by signing professionally at Stade Toulouse in 2018. Barred by his brother in the Toulouse club, he was loaned to LOU for the 2021 season -2022 in order to gain playing time. Julien and Guillaume also have an older brother, but he is not a professional rugby player. He is a career soldier, based in Tarbes, not far from Loures-Barousse, where the parents of the Marchand siblings still live.