'Street-fight rugby' - Kpoku on Top 14 and Test future

European Champions Cup: Sale v Racing 92

Venue: Salford Community Stadium Date: Friday, 13 December Kick-off: 20:00 GMT

Coverage: Listen to live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra and BBC Sounds, follow live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app.

Junior Kpoku was 18 when he arrived in France - and experienced a rugby culture shock with whiplash.

"Everything you do in Top 14 is a dogfight," the Racing 92 forward tells BBC Sport.

"It's like street-fight rugby. Let's put it like that.

"In the UK, it is physical, of course, but you're not hitting every ruck, you're not hitting anyone out the blue.

"You're not getting hit. You're not getting shouldered, you're not getting elbows to the face.

"I came out here not being 'a dog' and that really shocked me."

Last weekend, another difference between English and French club rugby was laid bare.

Aside from a second-string Castres side's defeat by Northampton, France had the upper hand in the other three cross-Channel Champions Cup matches.

Bath and Leicester, flying in the Premiership, arrived with high hopes and left with just a bonus point from their brushes with French opposition.

France has supplied the past four European champions. When it comes to European club rugby, the Top 14 is at the summit.

And Kpoku, 6ft 8in tall and more than 18st, is thriving amid those hard knocks and high standards.

Still only 19, the Londoner, who can play as a blindside flanker or second row, has started eight of Racing's 11 league games, establishing himself as a first choice in a squad that also features France pair Cameron Woki and Romain Taofifenua, along with Wales' Will Rowlands.

"At the start of the season, I did not expect to be starting over some of the big names we have at Racing," Kpoku adds.

"But I was working so hard because I was hungry to start."

He is part of an English enclave at the heart of the Racing dressing room.

Owen Farrell, Henry Arundell and ex-Sale centre Sam James have made Paris home. Former England coach Stuart Lancaster is the boss. Paul 'Bobby' Stridgeon oversees fitness and Tom Whitford, a veteran Top 14 team manager who helped Jonny Wilkinson integrate into Toulon's galacticos, organises behind the scenes.

Kpoku has an advantage over them all.

Born in Newham to Congolese parents, he has been fluent in French since he was a boy.

His twin elder brothers Joel and Jonathan already play in France, for Pau and second-tier Albi respectively. One of the motivations for Junior's own move from Exeter to Racing was to be nearer his unwell father.

With Lancaster still learning the language and a stellar squad from different nations, Kpoku is the first-choice on-pitch translator, as well as a back-five wrecker.

He is settling so well, it has unsettled some back in England.

Across the water and therefore ineligible for Steve Borthwick's England team, the prospect of Kpoku representing France remains live.

To play for France, he would have to be registered with a French club for five years. It is a lengthy process, but Kpoku has started early.

He would be 23 when he, in theory, he becomes eligible in autumn 2028.

In practice, Kpoku says it is unlikely.

"At this point of time, I would say France is not really what I want to pursue because it's not my country," he says.

"I want to represent my own country where I was born and raised and where my family was born and raised."

He was a key part of England's Under-20 World Cup win in the summer, delivering powerhouse performances backed by clear passion, belting out the anthem with gusto.

Time will tell. And not any time soon.

Despite Kpoku reportedly being considered for one of the handful of remaining enhanced England contracts – the signing of which would bring him back to England and into the forefront of Test thinking – he has extended his Racing deal though to summer 2027, a few months before the next Rugby World Cup.

"Of course I've spoken to people from the UK about my future, but at the moment I am just staying focused at Racing and getting better as a rugby player so I can hopefully become that international rugby player in the future," he adds.

Friday will be another step towards that goal. Kpoku will be back in England, making his Champions Cup debut away to Sale.

"I can't wait for it, can't wait," he says.

"It's going to be a tough challenge, of course, but I think we are going to be ready for the fight."

Out-scrapping Sale would be a statement from the three-time runners-up and the young Englishman in their midst.