A third final place, three tries and a nomination in the standard team of the tournament… Five months before the Paris Olympic Games, which he hopes to play with the Blues, Antoine Dupont made his debut on the world rugby circuit at 7, last weekend, during the tournament in Vancouver, Canada.
The Toulouse scrum half is doing it again this weekend, from Friday to Sunday, this time in Los Angeles, for a tournament which promises to be just as tough. The Blues inherited a dense but affordable group with Canada, Great Britain and, icing on the cake, Fiji. For the first time in his career, Antoine Dupont will have the opportunity to rub shoulders with double Olympic champions.
Jérôme Daret’s men, who are only seventh in the world rankings despite their first podium of the season, have the opportunity to get closer to the best nations in the world and, who knows, to achieve the first victory for France 7 on the world circuit since the Paris tournament in… 2005.
The French women in search of a first victory
As for the French women’s team, the objective will be to finally achieve a victory in the World Series. The teammates of Séraphine Okemba, also elected to the standard team for the Vancouver tournament, are circling around. In Canada, they lost in the final against New Zealand, their second final of the season after the one lost in Cape Town against Australia in December.
The girls of coach David Courteix will face Japan, Ireland and Australia in the group, a group that is also well within their reach. Remember that to qualify for the quarter-finals, the two French teams must finish among the first two in their group or be among the two best third-placed teams in the three groups.
The Los Angeles tournament can be followed live on the platform rugbypass.tv (free access after creating an account) and on that of france.tv. The French men’s team plays against Canada (Saturday at 4:16 a.m. French time), Great Britain (Saturday at 6:52 p.m.) and Fiji (Saturday at 11:22 p.m.).
The French women’s team will face Japan (Saturday at 1:52 a.m. French time), Ireland (Saturday at 9:04 p.m.) and Australia (Sunday at 1:40 a.m.). The quarter-finals will take place on the night of Saturday to Sunday, the semi-finals on Sunday evening and a possible final on the night of Sunday to Monday.
