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French rugby star Antoine Dupont, one of the home pin-ups for the Paris Olympics, helped France to a 19-5 victory over Argentina in the grand final of the Rugby Sevens Series in Madrid on Sunday.
Dupont, who captains the France 15-a-side team and starred as his club Toulouse won last week’s Champions Cup, played the second-half of the final and was instrumental as the French won their first ever Series.
“It’s a good group, a good team. I’m very proud of them,” said France skipper Paulin Riva. “We have a good, big defence.
“Antoine is the best player in the world, we think! When he’s on the pitch we have a lot of confidence.”
France coach Jerome Daret said the result was “very important for us before the Olympics”.
“The next tournament in Paris will be another story! Our aim for Paris is to make a lot of things on the pitch… and give pleasure to the fans.”
Daret added: “It’s not finished, we have a big target.
“We know in Paris it’s a home advantage to be in front of our fans and families.”
France, who lost 26-12 to top-ranked Los Pumas in pool play, looked the better composed team throughout the 20-minute final at Atletico Madrid’s Civitas Metropolitano Stadium. The French, ranked fifth, thought they’d opened the scoring through Jean-Pascal Barraque, but his knee was grazed the touchline just before he crossed the try line.
Instead, it was Argentina’s Luciano Gonzalez who was first on the scoresheet, the forward producing two powerful hand-offs on Stephen Parez-Edo-Martin and Jefferson-Lee Joseph for a fine individual try.
But France roared back in collective style from a full 100 metres, Joseph linking well to gift Parez-Edo-Martin, who first played rugby as a student at the French lycee in Madrid, a straight run-in to the line. A Riva conversion handed France a 7-5 halftime lead over Los Pumas, who beat defending two-time Olympic champions Fiji in the semifinal, leaving the South Sea Islanders now 22 Sevens tournaments without a win. — SuperSport.
Online Reporter