Dupont inspires France to World Sevens victory in Madrid

Rugby fans got a taste of what to expect at the Olympic Games as French legend Antoine Dupont inspired his country to victory in the Sevens World Series in Madrid.

The French made three tries past favorites Argentina to win the final 19-5, with Dupont adding the decisive third score ahead of Paulin Riva.

After waiting 19 years for a Sevens title, France have now won two of the five tournaments since Toulouse scrum-half Dupont joined the squad from the 15-a-side team.

“We think Antoine is the best player in the world,” said Riva. “When he is on the pitch we have a lot of confidence and we are very happy tonight.

“We feel like the Olympics have now arrived.”

Dupont, 27, is expected to be one of the faces of this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris and played a key role in his side’s success in Madrid.

He scored a try and set up another as the French came from behind to beat Great Britain 17–12 after extra time in the group stage to reach the semi-finals.

And Dupont then came off the bench to inspire another comeback win against Fiji in the last four, helping to set up two second-half tries as they ran out 21-14 winners.

Argentina defeated New Zealand by the same scoreline in the semi-final and in the final Luciano Gonzalez crossed in the corner to give the Pumas a 5-0 lead late in the first half.

But France responded just before half-time with an excellent escape attempt under the posts by Stephen Parez-Edo Martin.

Dupont came into action after the break with his side leading 7–5 and after Jefferson-Lee Joseph completed a flowing move to extend their lead, he took out two defenders to plate a pass for Riva to seal the win.

After receiving the player of the tournament award, Dupont said: “I hope (the Olympics) will be a big tournament for us. Obviously we want to win, but there are many other countries who also want to win. We have two.” We have to work as hard as we can now and hopefully we will be done in July.”

The men’s sevens event starts at the Paris Olympics on July 24, with the women’s event starting on July 28.