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Antoine Dupont's France stumble as Fiji, NZ and Ireland start Olympic sevens well
By Josh Raisey
Antoine Dupont's pursuit of a gold medal got off to a solid but imperfect start on day one of the Olympic sevens, as his France side drew with the United States 12-12, meaning they were not one of the five teams that started the competition with two wins from two.
Pool A saw New Zealand and Ireland emerge as the dominant forces, with the All Blacks Sevens defeating South Africa 17-5 and overpowering Japan 40-12. Ireland also demonstrated their strength, securing a massive 40-5 win over Japan and a narrower 10-5 victory over the Blitzbokke.
With two victories each on day one, New Zealand and Ireland sit at the top of pool A with six points apiece. They will go head-to-head on day two to see who wins the pool.
HSBC SVNS Series league winners Argentina and Australia also showed their gold medal-winning credentials on day one. Los Pumas beat Samoa 28-12 and later secured a convincing 31-12 win over Kenya. Australia's matches were slightly less comfortable, as they defeated Kenya 21-7 and edged out Samoa in a tighter contest, winning 21-14.
Similarly to pool A, Argentina and Australia are both level on points at the top of pool B, and will also do battle tomorrow to see who will be crowned pool winners.
In Pool C, 2016 and 2020 gold medal winners Fiji staked their claim for a third straight title win despite a turbulent year. They demolished the United States 38-12 and Uruguay 40-12. Hosts France, meanwhile, started with a narrow victory over Uruguay 19-12 before drawing with the USA.
Fiji have opened a narrow lead at the top of pool B with their two victories, one head of France who they face tomorrow in the final match of pool B. The winner of that match will win the pool, but a loss for Dupont and co, combined with a US win over Uruguay, could see France finish third in their group.
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Latest Comments
Great read on a fascinating topic.
Couple of questions related to Bristol and Black Ferns.
They were properly hammered and struggled to score many points at all in the two European matches preceding the demolition of Leicester. Was it lack of ambition in those matches or a better opponent? This Tigers mob has been less than the sum of their parts since their ugly GP win under Borthwick.
I went to Twickenham with a large group of parents and young ladies from Barnes RFC to watch NZ v England last season. The dads among us were deeply frustrated by how inflexible the Black Ferns were with their strategy to run and not kick and they were duly put to the sword.
Pretty clearly, there is more depth and quality in the England squad and, whilst on any given day (and with the help of a red card), NZ might sneak one the strategy can go horribly wrong given the level of passing and catching skill in the women's game. Was Smith very lucky and it's the wrong way to play big games or was he showing us the way forward? I'm not at all sure.
Go to commentsI can't see them getting to the final of the Champons Cup.
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