SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — In a seven-minute clinic that’ll long define his legacy, Antoine Dupont scored two tries and created another to deliver a coveted gold medal for France and end two-time champion Fiji’s Olympic dominance in rugby sevens.
One of the world’s best rugby players, Dupont was saved for the second half on Saturday in a tactical ploy that worked to perfection when he swung momentum with his first touch of the ball and then guided France to an emphatic 28-7 victory.
The mercurial playmaker skipped the Six Nations tournament and switched his attention from the traditional 15s format to rugby sevens in March to chase his once-in-a-lifetime chance to win an Olympic gold medal on home soil.
He can return to the French XV as an Olympic champion, at least partly erasing the pain of his Rugby World Cup disappointment on home soil last year.
“Just a huge award for us, for rugby, for all the country,” Dupont said. “We really felt that we represent rugby, but we represent all the French sport as well.
“We are really proud to start the Olympics like that.”
The French men didn’t qualify for the previous Olympics in Tokyo, but can proudly boast France’s first gold of the Paris Games. With Dupont on board, the French this season won their first title on the world sevens series circuit in almost two decades and added victory in the series finale as well.
Fiji’s silver lining
Fiji had never lost a rugby sevens game at the Olympics, taking a 17-game winning streak into the title decider, and was peaking for the biggest event as usual after an uncharacteristically inconsistent showing in the world series circuit.
“I know the bar is set really high by the 2016 and 2020 squads — but it’s no mean feat winning a silver medal at the Olympics,” Fiji coach Osea Kolinisau said. “We wanted to keep the legacy going … we just fell short.”
A turning point
A contest between Dupont and Jerry Tuwai, the two-time Olympic gold medalist and rugby sevens player of the decade, was pivotal.
The defending champions scored first and it was 7-7 when Dupont went onto the field just after halftime.
Almost immediately he took off down the left sideline on a long-range run deep into Fiji’s, beating Tuwai’s attempted tackle as he unloaded a pass to Aaron Grandidier Nkanang to give France a 14-7 lead.
His pair of late tries were just the icing for a raucous 69,000 capacity crowd.
France’s win captured the attention of the host nation, where rugby has long been a source of pride but also some hurt — the French have never won the Rugby World Cup in the 15-a-side format, the pinnacle event in the sport.
Rugby sevens usually takes a backseat to 15s among the sport’s elite — until it comes to the Olympics, when the almost non-stop attacking nature of the game and the booming music lend a party vibe to the tournaments.
The celebrations weren’t contained to the Stade de France, with fans watching tennis stars Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz compete together in doubles at Court Philippe Chatrier in Roland Garros rising to applaud and yell and wave their French flags, then breaking into a song of “Allez, Les Bleus!”
And it did keep going. The French sevens squad collected their gold medals atop the podium, then joined together and danced in the middle of the field.
South Africans win bronze
South Africa won the bronze medal despite conceding two late tries in the third-place match, with Shaun Williams making the most of an overlap in the last moments to beat Australia 26-19.
The South Africans, who also won the bronze at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016, had a one-man advantage after Australian captain Nick Malouf was red carded in the second half for a high tackle. The Australians rallied with two tries to level but weren’t able to send the game to extra time.
New Zealand beat Ireland 17-7 for fifth place and Argentina beat the U.S. men 19-0 in the seventh-place playoff.
The French campaign
The tournament started with great expectations for the French squad, but it didn’t go according to plan on the opening day Wednesday — two days before the official opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.
The home team opened with a surprising 12-12 draw against the U.S., struggled against Uruguay and then lost 19-12 to Fiji in the group stage. That was followed by a gritty win over Argentina in the quarterfinals and a 19-5 comeback win over South Africa in the semifinals.
France coach Jerome Daret described Dupont as “the cement between the bricks that solidified our performances.”
Converting to rugby’s abbreviated version, which is contested by teams of seven playing multiple games daily across multiple days on a regulation field, has never been easy for the top players in 15s. Dupont didn’t show it.
“The fact he was on the pitch meant there was a lot of pressure put on the opponents,” Daret said, “and a lot more support for our team.”
Dupont faced a media scrum under the stadium after the final, where it was put to him that there’s many people calling him an all-time best.
“It’s always a pleasure to read some article like that but, honestly, I don’t really spend a lot of time on that,” he said. “I just focus on my objective.”
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