Antoine Dupont came off the bench to inspire France to their first gold of their home Olympic Games in Paris this evening.
The poster boy of the 2024 Games set up one try and scored two of his own in the second half to lead his country to a historic 28-7 triumph over Fiji in the rugby sevens gold medal match.
The defeat is Fiji's first ever loss at the Olympics in rugby sevens, having stormed to gold in Rio and Tokyo over the past two Games.
However, the defending champions were blown away in the second half of their final at the Stade de France, as the host nation picked up their first of what they hope will be a record haul of golds on home soil.
Dupont, who is arguably the best 15s player in the world, raised plenty of eyebrows when he decided to miss this year's Six Nations in order to focus on switching to the shorter form of the game for the Olympics.
Dupont decision to prioritise sevens pays off
"This will go down as one of the greatest moments in French Rugby" 🇫🇷
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 27, 2024
France have won their first gold medal at #Paris2024
They did it in some style in the Rugby Sevens! #Olympics pic.twitter.com/dzJzr4yoWZ
The scrum-half has been utilised as an impact sub for much of the tournament, and played that role again to great effect in the gold medal match in front of 70,000 fans at a rainy Stade de France.
Fiji made a flying start to the contest with a brilliant opening try through Joseva Talacolo early on, but the two sides went into the interval all square after Jefferson-Lee Joseph went over for France.
Dupont was then called upon at half time, and his impact was immediate, picking up a loose ball from kickoff before darting down the touchline and giving it inside for Aaron Grandidier Nkanang to touch down.
Dupont then powered over for a try of his own, and the result was already wrapped up before the talismanic figure burrowed over for his second after time was up, putting the ice on the cake of a famous night for French rugby.
The glory came less than a year after the 15s side featuring Dupont suffered heartbreak at their home Rugby World Cup in the same stadium.
Barney Corkhill
