These games were declared unofficially open with a victorious strike on the bell from the Notre Dame Cathedral. Paris’s iconic building is under restoration from the devastating fire of 2019 and one of its bells has been given a temporary home behind the rugby posts at the Sevens.
On Wednesday night, Antoine Dupont’s team-mate, Jefferson-Lee Joseph, was given the honor of ringing it, as France beat Uruguay to kick-start their Olympic campaign. This was the sporting curtain-raiser before Friday's opening ceremony and was a resounding success as an occasion.
Locals belted out chants of ‘Allez les Bleus’, arriving with homemade banners, mostly featuring messages for their star scrum-half. In his short Sevens career, Dupont is more familiar with an impact role from the bench but here he was asked to bring his big-game experience to the starting team.
The French appeared tense in front of the expectant and sold-out 69,000 crowd, featuring dignitaries from Dan Carter to the Fijian prime minister. There were signs of stage fright as they drew their opening fixture against the USA, who arrived straight from lunch with American rapper Snoop Dogg.
Dupont showed flashes of his brilliance with his attacking offloads. He unsurprisingly rose to the occasion and prevented a try with a desperate cover tackle at 12-7 with three minutes left to play. However, capitalizing on nervy French handling errors, America finished level thanks to a late Marcus Tupuola try.
With qualification guaranteed for the top two teams from each group, as well as the two best runners-up, the result was not a disaster. France had a couple of hours to recover, as New Zealand and Fiji registered impressive wins, proving their mettle as gold medal contenders.
At the break between sessions, some fans were taken by surprise at the stadium bars. ‘This is the first rugby match I’ve been to where I can’t have a pint!’ said a Welshman, unaware that 0% beer at £7 a pint is the closest he will get to buying an alcoholic drink at these booze-free games.
In the evening slot against the unfancied Uruguayans, France scraped to victory in a contest that was tighter than expected. But Dupont scored one of the tries of the day, handing off two defenders before charging to the try line like a baby bull. As he departed, the crowd chanted his name, watching from the sidelines as his team-mates clung on for a desperately needed victory.
