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.
Rugby sevens usually takes a backseat to 15s among the sport’s elite until it comes to the Olympics. (Photo: PTI)
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. Click here to connect with us on WhatsApp 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 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.
