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Rugby fans were given a glimpse of what to expect at the Olympics as French legend Antoine Dupont led France to victory in the Sevens World Series in Madrid.
France won the final 19-5 after scoring three tries against favourites Argentina, with Dupont scoring the decisive third goal through Pauline Riva.
France waited 19 years to win a sevens title but have won two of the five tournaments since Toulouse scrum-half Dupont joined the team from the 15-a-side squad.
“We think Antoine is the best player in the world,” Riva said. “Whenever he’s on the pitch we have a lot of confidence and we’re very happy with tonight.”
“It feels like the Olympics have really arrived now.”
Dupont, 27, is expected to be one of the faces of the Paris Olympics this summer and played a key role in the team’s victory in Madrid.
He scored a try and assisted another as France came from behind to beat Great Britain 17-12 in extra time in the group stage and reach the semi-finals.
Dupont then came off the bench to lead his team to another comeback win against Fiji in the quarter-final, contributing two second-half tries to win 21-14.
Argentina had defeated New Zealand in the semi-finals by the same score, and in the final, Luciano Gonzalez scored from a corner to give the Pumas a 5-0 lead late in the first half.
However, France hit back just before half-time with a brilliant breakaway try from Stephane Palace-Ed Martin under the posts.
Dupont came into the second half with his team leading 7-5 and after Jefferson Lee Joseph completed a fluid move to extend his lead, he slipped past two defenders and made a pass to Riva to seal the win.
Dupont, who was awarded the Tournament MVP, said: [the Olympics] It’s a big tournament for us. Of course we want to win, but there are many other countries that we want to beat. We will train as hard as we can for the next two months and hopefully be ready in July.”
The men’s sevens tournament at the Paris Olympics will begin on July 24th, while the women’s tournament will start on July 28th.