Superstar Antoine Dupont inspires France to first SVNS title in 19 years

Dylan Coetzee
France's Antoine Dupont walks in the try zone after his team scores a try the pitch.

France's Antoine Dupont looking on.

It was almost as if it was written in the stars that France 15s captain Antoine Dupont would shine in Sevens but he took that a step further by powering his country to their first title in the shorter format in 19 years.

Dupont’s move to Sevens to get ready for the Paris Olympics has been highly-publicised with the superstar missing the Six Nations to hone his craft ahead of the massive sporting event later this year but the result in Los Angeles goes a long way in vindicating the decision.

Fresh off the back of featuring in the Vancouver SVNS dream team last weekend in what was his debut tournament, Dupont kicked on and played an even bigger role this time round starting in all the games and coming up with some game-winning interventions.

LA Bliss

In their opener, Dupont scored his first try of the weekend against Canada but he would fail to score in the losing outing against Fiji. It would not be easy to keep the skilful Frenchman at bay and he was back on the scoresheet against the USA in the Cup quarter-final.

That set the team up against Ireland in the semi-finals which turned out to be a thrilling clash with Dupont scoring and assisting to power the side to a two-point win.

While the former World Rugby Men’s 15s Player of Year did not get on the scoresheet in the final he did throw the pass for the last try of the game as France rewrote history with a win against Great Britain to seal the deal and secured his spot in the Los Angeles Dream.

The result is a testament to the supreme talent that is Antoine Dupont and really brings to light just how possible it is for the superstar and his French compatriots to claim gold at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

READ MORE: Antoine Dupont scores classy try as France kick off with Los Angeles Sevens victory

France Antoine Dupont

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