diff --git a/config/checkstyle/import-control.xml b/config/checkstyle/import-control.xml
index a2ae6cc034c..1674da76c3e 100644
--- a/config/checkstyle/import-control.xml
+++ b/config/checkstyle/import-control.xml
@@ -91,8 +91,6 @@
 		<disallow pkg="jakarta.servlet" />
 
 		<!-- Common -->
-		<subpackage name="client">
-		</subpackage>
 		<subpackage name="context">
 			<allow pkg="org.springframework.context" />
 			<subpackage name="servlet">
diff --git a/module/spring-boot-restclient/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/restclient/RootUriTemplateHandler.java b/module/spring-boot-restclient/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/restclient/RootUriTemplateHandler.java
index 6d710cf2268..85f4471bff5 100644
--- a/module/spring-boot-restclient/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/restclient/RootUriTemplateHandler.java
+++ b/module/spring-boot-restclient/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/restclient/RootUriTemplateHandler.java
@@ -62,7 +62,8 @@ public class RootUriTemplateHandler implements UriTemplateHandler {
 	}
 
 	String apply(String uriTemplate) {
-		if (StringUtils.startsWithIgnoreCase(uriTemplate, "/")) {
+		String rootUri = getRootUri();
+		if (rootUri != null && StringUtils.startsWithIgnoreCase(uriTemplate, "/")) {
 			return getRootUri() + uriTemplate;
 		}
 		return uriTemplate;
diff --git a/module/spring-boot-restclient/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/restclient/autoconfigure/RestClientAutoConfiguration.java b/module/spring-boot-restclient/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/restclient/autoconfigure/RestClientAutoConfiguration.java
index a05efaedd37..75db3dcea28 100644
--- a/module/spring-boot-restclient/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/restclient/autoconfigure/RestClientAutoConfiguration.java
+++ b/module/spring-boot-restclient/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/restclient/autoconfigure/RestClientAutoConfiguration.java
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ import org.springframework.boot.restclient.RestClientCustomizer;
 import org.springframework.boot.ssl.SslBundles;
 import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
 import org.springframework.context.annotation.Conditional;
+import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
 import org.springframework.context.annotation.Scope;
 import org.springframework.core.Ordered;
 import org.springframework.core.annotation.Order;
@@ -96,6 +97,7 @@ public final class RestClientAutoConfiguration {
 		return restClientBuilderConfigurer.configure(RestClient.builder());
 	}
 
+	@Configuration(proxyBeanMethods = false)
 	@ConditionalOnClass(HttpMessageConverters.class)
 	static class HttpMessageConvertersConfiguration {