By Le Figaro with AFP
Published 2 hours ago, Updated 19 minutes ago
Antoine Dupont and his teammates are smiling. PATRICK T. FALLON / AFP
In the cool of the Los Angeles Galaxy stadium, the Blues showed their mastery to stifle Great Britain (21-0) in the final on Sunday.
Already an event. The French rugby sevens team and its new star Antoine Dupont won the Los Angeles world circuit tournament on Sunday, a first for the men since 2005 which launches them perfectly towards their Olympic goal. So this is the “Dupont effect”? The emblematic captain of the XV of France, who came to the challenge of 7 to prepare for the Paris Olympic Games (July 26 – August 11), helped the Blues regain victory on the world circuit, enough to boost the confidence of a group who learn to live with a rugby star.
If he is not the boss on the field like in XV, where the scrum half sticks to the ball, the Toulouse player has gained incredible thickness in just two weeks in the squad of the 7 of France. “My role is just a team player. I’m still learning, I’m not going to make big speeches when it’s only my second tournament with them“, he humbly assured, after having multiplied the selfies with enamored spectators. Between his perfectly adjusted passes, his explosive starts and his devastating tackles, Antoine Dupont shone in Los Angeles. He won a starting place even if he did not start the final, visibly tired by the electric pace of his new discipline.
“Trust”
In the cool of the Los Angeles Galaxy stadium, the Blues showed their mastery to stifle Great Britain (21-0) in the final on Sunday. Antoine Zeghdar (7th) and Stephen Parez (9th) dived into the goal before the entry of Dupont in the second half, who offered the 3rd try to Théo Forner (13th). With the contribution of their new star, the Blues won their first trophy since 2005 and a success at the Jean-Bouin stadium in Paris. Since then, the French men’s team has lost six finals, the last of which last year in Vancouver (Canada).
Read also Far from the XV of France, Antoine Dupont shone with the 7-a-side team
«I’m just super happy, proud of the team. This is only my second tournament I know they have been working for a while. There were finals, but there was no title yet. It validates the work that has been done and allows you to gain confidence as deadlines approach.», indicated Dupont. “We want to do something big», at the Olympics, he continued. After an average start to the season on the world circuit (10th, 8th then 6th), the Blues successfully completed their North American tour, Dupont’s first, with a 3rd place in Vancouver last week.
“X Factor”
The Toulouse player seemed to enjoy the spaces of the 7th, far from the doldrums of the six nations tournament of “his” XV of France. He gave a try on Saturday with a rare kick in this discipline, where he surprises his opponents, and sometimes his teammates. “We will always be behind him for any of his initiatives. It’s another string to our bow, plus he really knows how to do everything, he’s impressive, we’re trying to rely on that to score tries more easily than usual», Commented the experienced Stephen Parez.
The trigger is that we have worked a lot, we have experience, and we have an X factor with us
Varian Pasquet, about Antoine Dupont
«The trigger is that we have worked a lot, we have experience, and we have an X factor with us», Estimated Varian Pasquet, speaking of his new teammate. After having laid an interesting foundation for the Games, Dupont will rest then return to the reality of the Top 14 with Stade Toulouse and leave the Blues of 7 without him for the tournaments in Hong Kong (April 5-7) and Singapore ( May 3-5). He should meet them for the final of the circuit from May 31 to June 2 in Madrid. If the Blues shone in the United States, the French experienced a huge disappointment with an elimination in the quarter-finals against Canada (28-19), finally finishing 5th after having had three podiums during the first four stages.
