Unimpressive France 'won't go very far' in Paris Olympics
SPOTLIGHT: France back Antoine Dupont says his side ‘won’t go very far’ after two unconvincing results on the first day of the Paris Olympic Sevens.
Hyped up as tournament favourites – France struggled to live up to the hype on day one when they had a 12-all draw against the USA and just managing to edge Uruguay 19-12 – much to the home crowd’s relief.
They will face Fiji on Thursday, July 25 for the pool decider but their form is concerning heading into the knockout stages.
Antoine Dupont who showed touches of his class in the two matches recieved the biggest cheer of the night when he shrugged off the attentions of the Uruguay defence to sprint half the length of the field to score a try.
In a match that was in the balance – France took the lead before Uruguay struck back to level matters, followed by a breakout run from Jefferson-Lee Joseph to score the match winner much to the relief of the sold-out 69000 crowd.
“If we don’t raise our level, we won’t go very far. We know that and we’re capable of doing much better,” said Dupont after the match.
“We didn’t put ourselves in a good place once again. We struggled to impose our game plan, to keep the ball.”
Defending champions Fiji – who won back to back gold medals at the event since it’s been introduced at the 2016 Rio Olympics recently had a poor run of form but have seemed to rediscovered their mojo under new coach Osea Kolinisau with convincing wins over Uruguay (40-12) and the USA (38-12).
French back Jean-Pascal Barraque had a brutally honest assessment of their performance ahead of their clash with Fiji.
“We didn’t really enjoy ourselves on the pitch and nor, I think, did the crowd, poor things. At least we made all our mistakes today and tomorrow can only be better,” said Barraque.
In the earlier matches – Australia ensured they reach the knockout stages with two hard fought victories over Samoa and Kenya.
Argentina – who had a cold reception from the local crowd also booked their knockout ticket with wins over Kenya (31-12) and Samoa (28-12).
Argentina back Marcos Moneta shrugged off the hostile reception from the crowd, saying ” I don’t mind that, I enjoy it.
“I don’t know if [the hostility to us] was because of the World Cup [Argentina beat France in the 2022 World Cup football final] or if they just don’t like us. I don’t mind.”
In Pool A – which has been dubbed as the “group of death” traditional powerhouses New Zealand, South Africa and Ireland along with Japan battled it out on day one with not much to choose between the big three.
Ireland and New Zealand comfortably won two from two – both getting victories over Japan and South Africa and will lock horns in the Pool decider on Thursday, July 25.
World Rugby’s chief executive Alan Gilpin described the tournament as a “coming of age” moment for the sport.
“There has never been a greater spotlight on the sport,” Gilpin said ahead of the competition.
The women’s tournament starts on Sunday, with Australia and New Zealand well-placed to battle for the gold.
