Paris 2024 Olympics: Without Antoine Dupont, France’s rugby sevens team fails in the quarter-finals in Singapore

There will be no French men’s rugby sevens semi-final in Singapore. With the new squad, the Blues completely missed the meeting with Great Britain this Saturday (7-35). Without Antoine Dupont, selected by Toulouse for the European Cup semi-final against Harlequins on Sunday, Jerome Daret’s side went into battle with an opponent they have nevertheless beaten in their last five encounters.

While they scored at the first try of the match thanks to Jordan Sefo (3rd, 7-0), the Tricolores lost the thread, giving up three tries in three minutes. Due to the British side’s physicality, the Blues went into the break with a fourteen-point deficit (7-21). Max McFarland (11th) and Tom Homer (12th) finished in France in the second act.

The setback puts an end to the very positive momentum of the French group in the months leading up to the 2024 Paris Olympics, marked by a third place in Vancouver, a victory in Los Angeles and a final in Hong Kong in recent weeks, but which could be explained by numerous absences. In addition to Dupont, Paulin Riva and Stephen Parese were also missing.

Despite this heavy defeat, the Blues will still be in Madrid for the tournament’s grand final (May 31-June 2) as they have already qualified for the Singapore leg.

The Blues went for a walk

Earlier in the morning, the French women’s team advanced to the quarterfinals against Canada, which, however, managed to win six games in a row over the Blues (24-0). Deprived of many leaders for this stage in Singapore, with Anne-Cécile Ciofani, Joanna Griese, Caroline Drouin or even Chloe Jacquet missing, the French group produced a flawless group stage, achieving great success (41-7) against Japan and against South Africa (49- 0) ahead of a tougher win over the United States (19-15) this Saturday.

Driven by the desire to win their first tournament of the sevens season, the Blues gave their opponents no chance, showing high intensity from the start. If we had to wait until the final seconds of the first act to witness Valentin Lotoz’s first attempt, the second half was much more entertaining. Serafina Okemba capped off a wonderful collective move with a shot into the right corner (9th, 12-0) before Camille Grassino did the same in the same area to finish the match (12th, 17-0). Youngster Cleo Hagel capped the French performance late in the match, scoring her first try of the world tournament (13th, 24-0).

Having qualified for their fifth semi-final of the season, the Tricolors will face Australia this Sunday at 7:24am.