France target golden start at Paris 2024

Ahead of the opening day of the men’s sevens tournament at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, we preview all the action from the Stade de France.

Home fans will hope Antoine Dupont and France can get the Olympic Games Paris 2024 off to the perfect start when the men’s sevens tournament gets underway at Stade de France on Wednesday.

Dupont has enjoyed a stunning year so far, inspiring club side Toulouse to domestic and European success while proving a catalyst to his country’s SVNS Grand Final triumph in Madrid.

France’s run to the SVNS Championship crown included a first series tournament win in 19 years, in Los Angeles, and the World Rugby Men’s 15s Player of the Year 2021 has made a seamless transition to sevens.

With the likes of Jordan Sepho, Stephen Parez-Edo Martin and captain Paulin Riva supplementing Dupont’s sublime skills, France will hope the painful memories of Men’s Rugby World Cup 2023 will be banished over the next four days.

Dupont is certainly inspired by the task facing the team at Stade de France. “For any sports fan, the Olympics are still mythical, the Holy Grail of sport,” he said.

“To be in with a chance of winning an Olympic medal is a highly motivating challenge.”

France will open their Pool C campaign against USA at 16:30 local time (GMT+2) on Wednesday before taking on Uruguay and back-to-back Olympic champions Fiji at the iconic stadium.

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Les Bleus Sevens lead their 2024 head-to-heads against both USA and Uruguay but have won only one of their last five matches against Fiji, albeit that victory came in the Madrid semi-finals.

Fiji endured a disappointing SVNS campaign, finishing the regular season seventh as Ben Gollings was replaced as coach by Osea Kolinisau, who captained Fiji to Olympic gold at Rio 2016, in March.

Kolinisau recalled his former team-mate Jerry Tuwai to the squad ahead of the Grand Final in Madrid and the vastly experienced double gold medallist has been named captain for Paris.

“Even though I missed a few tournaments, I’ve stayed connected with the team, they kept encouraging me to come back and play, and I kept telling them that I’d be back,” Tuwai said.

“This will be my third Olympic Games and I truly believe that we have a fantastic squad, a strong team, and great management, the bond we share as a team gives me confidence that we can shine when it really counts.”

Fiji begin their quest for a third successive gold medal against Games debutants Uruguay at 17:00 local time on Wednesday.

“Our biggest rivals, we talked about this in training, is ourselves,” Kolinisau said. “When we get it right [mentally], people will be catching shadows on the ground.”

With only the top two guaranteed a place in the Medal quarter-finals, competition is going to be tough in Pool C.

Following a disappointing regular season, in which they made only one Cup semi-final and finished ninth overall, USA were forced to compete in the SVNS Play-off in Madrid.

The Men’s Eagles Sevens beat Uruguay 29-14 during the pool stage in Spain en route to retaining their place in the 2025 series thanks to a 40-19 victory against Samoa.

Uruguay, who won the World Rugby Sevens Challenger, recovered from their defeat to USA on day two to finish second in their pool and beat Chile to a place in SVNS 2025 with a slender 12-10 victory.

Seeded ninth and 10th respectively, USA and Uruguay will start the tournament as outsiders but with the knowledge that victory when they meet at 15:00 local time on Thursday could propel them into the knockout stages.

Will we see more dance moves like this from @FranceRugby at #Paris2024? 👀🕺#RugbySevens pic.twitter.com/xPm7uOLT8x

— Rugby Sevens (@SVNSSeries) July 22, 2024

ARGENTINA BID TO CONTINUE MEMORABLE YEAR

Australia and Samoa will have the honour of kicking off the tournament when they run out into a packed Stade de France at 15:30 local time on Wednesday.

John Manenti’s Australia won two of their three meetings with Samoa during the 2024 series on their way to a fourth-place regular season finish.

Their squad for Paris has been bolstered by the return of Henry Hutchison and the addition of test winger Mark Nawaqanitawase as he prepares to leave the game for rugby league.

“It’s very special,” Nawaqanitawase, who appeared at the Commonwealth Games 2022, said.

“I get up watching [the Olympics] no matter what event or sport, it’s pretty crazy to think that I’ll be able to run out there and represent my country.”

Samoa felt the absence of Vaa Apelu Maliko as they were ultimately relegated from SVNS but coach Brian Lima has been able to call on his try-scoring captain for Paris 2024.

Following the opening match, SVNS 2024 League Winners Argentina will join the Pool B party when they take on Kenya at Stade de France.

Having started the regular season with four successive Cup final appearances, winning all but the first of those, Los Pumas Sevens came within a whisker of claiming a memorable double.

An agonising 19-5 Championship final defeat to France in Madrid denied them but with Marcos Moneta back to full fitness, Argentina will be determined to end Fiji’s stranglehold of the Olympic title.

Los Pumas Sevens announced themselves to the world with a bronze medal in Tokyo three years ago and with a number of series tournament wins to their name since then, Moneta and Co. will want to go at least one step further in Paris.

Unfortunately for Argentina, they will have to do without Rodrigo Isgró as the World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year 2023 serves a three-match suspension. He has been named as a travelling reserve.

Kenya, meanwhile, condemned Rio 2016 bronze medallists South Africa to the World Rugby Sevens Repechage as they beat the Blitzboks in regional Olympic qualifying.

That feat maintained the Shujaa Sevens’ proud record of qualifying for every Games since rugby’s reintroduction in Rio and although seeded 11th in Paris, they will be confident they can upset anyone on their day.

Momentum is definitely with the team, having secured their place on the 2025 SVNS series in Madrid. Powered by the tries of Patrick Odongo Okong’o and with returning Olympians Herman Humwa and Vincent Onyala providing experience, no one will want to play Kenya.

NEW ZEALAND, IRELAND CHASE GLORY

Pool A could lay claim to being the most open of the three pools ahead of kick-off in Paris.

The action will get underway when Ireland, second only to Argentina in the regular season SVNS standings, take on South Africa at 17:30 local time before New Zealand – chasing their first men’s sevens gold medal – meet Japan.

Ireland were one of the most consistent teams in SVNS 2024, reaching five of the seven regular season Cup semi-finals to finish two points off the top.

Their ranks have been bolstered by 15s star Hugo Keenan and the thought of the Leinster full-back linking with Terry Kennedy and Jordan Conroy is one to set Irish pulses racing.

“The confidence is really high. We’re not overdoing or overthinking it, but we definitely can say we are contenders for a medal,” Mark Roche said last week.

“We are going for gold, we have the ability to win gold. It’s just small things that if we can fix by ourselves, our own game will be fine. We can definitely take it to everybody in Paris.”

That quest will start against the Blitzboks, a team they have beaten four times in their previous five meetings, including the fifth-place play-off in Madrid.

South Africa were the 12th and last team to book their place in the men’s tournament, having to come through a competitive repechage, beating Great Britain 14-5 in a tense final in Monaco last month.

Those exertions followed a mixed SVNS season that began with a tournament victory in Dubai but failed to ignite after as injuries and a collective loss of form took hold.

Former captain Siviwe Soyizwapi returned from injury towards the end of the campaign, and he adds experience to a talented squad alongside the likes of captain Selvyn Davids, Zain Davids, Impi Visser and Rosko Specman – who is set for a second Games eight years after his first.

The Blitzboks will bring the curtain down on the opening day when they take on New Zealand at 21:30 local time in Saint-Denis.

Having ended the SVNS regular season with tournament victories in Hong Kong and Singapore, before a fourth-place finish at the Grand Final in Madrid, the All Blacks Sevens head to Paris as one of the in-form teams and deserved number one seeds.

The pool of talent available to coach Tamasi Cama is highlighted by the fact that Sione Molia and Joe Webber, both double Olympians, have made the trip to Paris only as travelling reserves.

Dylan Collier will captain New Zealand at his second Games, while Scott Curry and Regan Ware prepare to appear at their third.

All three were part of the team that finished as runners-up to Fiji in Tokyo three years ago, as was Andrew Knewstubb, whose injury-plagued journey back into the famous black journey has been a challenging one.

“It was always the goal to get back here, so living out that dream was pretty unreal,” he said.

“Now, we’ve got one more goal: to win that gold. I’m the best prepared I can be, and now I’m looking forward to dipping in, and I know the rest of the boys are.”

The All Blacks Sevens face Japan in their opening match on Wednesday. Simon Amor’s side head into the tournament as 12th seeds having finished a disappointing eighth in the 2024 Challenger.

Japan have pedigree in upsetting the Olympic form book, though, and beat New Zealand for the first and only time during the Rio 2016 pool stage, winning 14-12 en route to fourth place.