Antoine Dupont’s Olympic sevens adventure begins in Vancouver

“It’s the holy grail of sport,” Antoine Dupont declared on the Team France social media channels last week. 

As he sets out on his quest for Olympic gold, the Toulouse scrum-half has swapped this year’s Six Nations for the World Sevens Series, a competition he has been gearing up for since the turn of the year.

The 2021 World Player of the Year will be making his highly anticipated sevens debut in Vancouver on Friday evening and is set to be involved in the Los Angeles leg of the tour the following weekend as well. At BC Place, France will begin their campaign against the USA, before taking on Australia and Samoa in their other Pool B fixtures.

There is little doubt that, as unfamiliar as Dupont may be with the abridged format, his unrivalled sense of invention, timing and awareness will be gamechanging assets for the team. The scrum-half nevertheless said he was still adapting to the demands of sevens: “It’s still the same sport, but the principles of the game are different, the physical profiles as well. I’m still learning.” 

His first taste came at the start of January, when he dropped by for the day at the team’s training camp. Fittingly, the session focused on kick-off routines – but not before an initiation ceremony for Dupont, consisting of a set of 10 burpees in the middle of the pitch, surrounded by his new teammates.

“He has all the skills needed to perform,” said the head coach, Jérôme Daret afterwards. “The real challenge will be helping him adapt to the workload and the different physical demands of sevens.” 

Beyond the next two weeks, Dupont is expected to be back with the squad every month, before taking part in the final tournament of the season in Madrid at the end of May. Whether he competes before then