Hong Kong Sevens: France leaning on Antoine Dupont’s influence in glory bid, ‘pressure on us to keep winning’
- Les Bleus and Ireland set for a well poised semi-final clash on Sunday
- Winners will meet either New Zealand or Australia in a final set to be the last at Hong Kong Stadium
France and Ireland completed gritty last-eight victories to set up what should be a bar-clearing semi-final of the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens on Sunday.
The two teams clashed in a barnstorming last-four game in Los Angeles last month, when France, inspired by crossover superstar Antoine Dupont, won 26-24.
Ireland might spy a Dupont-shaped hole in the French contingent in Hong Kong, and fancy their chances of moving one step closer to a first global series title.
But Aaron Grandidier, who scored the third try that finally put dogged Spain to bed in a quarter-final far more competitive than the 24-10 scoreline suggested, said the influence of Dupont was stamped though his team.
“He brings a lot of experience, even though that experience is not from the sevens world,” Grandidier told the Post.
“You can tell in the high-pressure moments, he has lived through hundreds of them, and that has given us a real level-headedness.”
That composure was tested when Jamie Manteca went over to give Spain, semi-finalists in Los Angeles, a 10-7 lead after 10 minutes.
The French players strewn across the whitewash disconsolately placed their hands on their knees, to a man. The impression of a beaten team was wildly misleading, however. Nelson Epee and Grandidier scored quick-fire tries, each completing the act with a gleeful swallow dive, before Jordan Sepho crossed at the death.
Grandidier, who said the exuberant try celebrations were the result of “wanting to enjoy the last time in this iconic stadium as much as possible”, insisted there was no sense of needing to prove France could win without Dupont, following success in LA.
“There is a determination to win every tournament, so we are not thinking about that,” he said. “We have some boys here who were not in LA, so we owe it to them to give them the same experience.
“There was a lot of pressure on us to win a tournament; now the pressure is on us to continue winning. If we believe in ourselves, we can achieve some great things.”
Grandidier warned that France would have to match Ireland’s aggression in the last-four encounter, or “have a really bad time”.
USA did give as good as they got against the Irish, but still lost a tense quarter-final in extra-time, after Terry Kennedy completed a hat-trick of tries to win the game in front of a bouncing South Stand.
Ireland sit second in the HSBC SVNS season standings, but are waiting for their first tournament victory. They will target glory in Hong Kong five years to the day since beating the hosts to rise to core status on the elite circuit.
“We knew it was going to be a tough slog, but we showed character, resilience and belief,” Kennedy, world sevens player of the year in 2022, said.
“We defended really well in the opening games, our defence probably was not quite so good [against USA], but our attack was beginning to come true. If we piece it all together, we have a really good chance.”
