The advantage of an almost empty stadium is that you don’t need a lot of people to be heard. And the advantage of not being very numerous is that we get almost everything we came for. So from the start of the final, the “Allez les Bleus” came down from the stands of the Los Angeles Galaxy stadium and the few dozen French supporters who were behind it were rewarded at the end with a victory for the Blues and selfies with all the heroes of this historic evening for French rugby sevens.
Since 2005 and a triumph in Paris, France had lost the six finals in which it had participated on the world circuit: Dubai 2011, Port Elisabeth 2012, Hong Kong and Vancouver 2019, Hamilton 2020 and again Vancouver last year. But on the night from Sunday to Monday, almost nineteen years after this victory against Fiji on the lawn of a Jean-Bouin still in his juice, France 7 once again experienced the joy of a success on the World Series. “We have been dreaming about it for a long time and touching it without being able to achieve it. It’s ecstasy! », enthused pillar Varian Pasquet, who was only five years old during this inaugural success for the Blues, whom he joined three years ago.
Stephen Parez-Edo Martin, in the France group since 2013, has known everything about this rise of 7 in France, carried since 2017 by Jérôme Daret, the coach, and Christophe Reigt, the general manager. “It was a really special match for me with a lot of emotions before, during and after the match. It’s the consecration of hard work for four or five years,” recalled the man who played 370 matches and 102 tries with the Blues and who was voted best player in the final.
Faced with the British who were physically drained and limited in the number of replacements due to injuries, Paulin Riva’s teammates never trembled in the final. Like the Americans in the quarter-finals (14-0), the British never managed to break through the French defense, which added discipline to its usual solidity. And tries from Antoine Zeghdar, Stephen Parez-Edo Martin and Théo Forner allowed France to win 21-0. “I’m super proud of the guys,” smiled captain Paulin Riva. We dominated this final and we are really very happy. »
“We’re not going to stop there”
Paulin Riva, captain of the Blues
“We knew that the British had had a complicated journey, that they didn’t have many people on the substitutes’ bench and that on our side we would have some freshness in the second half,” summarized Antoine Dupont, who entered the second half. second half and once again valuable in defense. From the start we controlled well, we didn’t make too many mistakes. We were losing ground but we didn’t take any attempts, we didn’t panic and we scored as soon as we had possessions. »
Just over four months before the Olympics, this victory comes at the right time for the French team, which had not qualified for Tokyo. “After our historic fourth place last year, we wanted to go for gold in a tournament and we did it,” commented winger Jefferson-Lee Joseph. Here we are, but we must not let up, we will have to win the championship in Madrid and then concentrate on the Games. » “We’re not going to stop there,” promises Captain Paulin Riva.
Antoine Dupont, who will return to Stade Toulousain while his teammates from the last two weeks will go to Hong Kong and Singapore, will return to the group of 7 for an internship before the grand final in Madrid, scheduled for early June. Then the Olympics at home. “We are a very ambitious group who want to go and get this gold medal in Paris,” recalls the scrum half. We all have this in our sights, with the objective of doing something great. »
