Antoine Dupont received a rapturous welcome from a raucous Stade de France crowd on Wednesday, but was unable to guide the French to victory over the United States in their opening Paris Olympics rugby sevens match.
Dupont played 12 minutes of the 12-12 Pool C draw, the Americans scoring the equalising try after he had been subbed off.
Dupont has established himself as one of world rugby’s best players and the scrum-half cuts an iconic figure in France.
The 27-year-old took a gamble of missing the Six Nations to make the French Olympic team, a move that led to some criticism.
But the combative half-back put that to one side, going on to help France to two wins on the World Rugby Sevens Series, including victory in the Madrid finals.
In between, he skippered his club Toulouse to Top 14 and Champions Cup glory in the 15-a-side code.
Against the Americans at the Stade de France, Dupont was named in the starting seven, coach Jerome Daret having previously used the playmaker largely as a ‘super-sub’ from the bench.
Wearing the number 11 shirt, Dupont’s first touch saw him play flyer Jefferson-Lee Joseph into space, the scrum-half quickly following up and first into the ruck.
Joseph failed to hold on to a giant miss pass Dupont threw out as France camped out in American territory, eventually opening the scoring through Jordan Sepho.
Dupont, who quickly established himself as one of the most formidable counter-ruckers on the sevens circuit, could do nothing as Lucas Lacamp broke clear to equal the scores, Steve Tomasin converting to give the USA a 7-5 half-time lead.
Dupont opened the second period with a strong fend that drew two defenders and a deft offload saw captain Paulin Riva skip away.
He was hauled down, the ball recycled and Rayan Rebbadj crossed to hand France the lead.
Dupont produced a great flying tackle to bring down Kevon Williams and forcing a knock-on.
With that, the Frenchman exited the pitch, with two minutes remaining.
The US, however, immediately hit back through Marcus Tupuola to leave the scores level at 12 points apiece.
The crowd gave a collective sigh of relief as Madison Hughes missed what would have been a match-winning conversion.
Dupont’s presence ensured a 69,000-capacity crowd at the Stade de France, with World Rugby expecting more than half a million fans to attend the six days of sevens action.
The last time Dupont had played at the stadium north of Paris certainly did not share the same party atmosphere.
On that occasion, a Dupont-led France lost 29-28 to South Africa in the Rugby World Cup quarter-final in October.
It was a result that left tournament hosts France shell-shocked.
Dupont’s subsequent sitting out of the Six Nations to focus on making the Olympic team did not sit well with many traditionalists, but coach Fabien Galthie said his transition had been two years in the making.
His appearance at the Paris Games remains a huge coup not only for French rugby as a whole, but also for the organisers.
With AFP
