The Olympic Games in Paris do not open until Friday, but hosts France are already through to the quarter-finals of the rugby 7s tournament.
24.07.2024, 22:06
26.07.2024, 10:13
SDA
Led by star player Antoine Dupont, who switched from 15s to rugby sevens especially for the Summer Games in Paris, the French secured their early progress with a 19:12 win over Uruguay, after a surprisingly bumpy start to their gold medal mission hours earlier with a 12:12 loss to the USA.
On Thursday afternoon, the French will play their third and final group match against two-time Olympic champions Fiji. The quarter-finals will take place on Thursday evening, while the semi-finals and final will be played on Saturday, the day after the opening ceremony. Co-favorites Argentina, New Zealand and Fiji have also qualified for the last eight early (with two wins).
After a long break of 88 years, rugby has only been part of the Olympic program again since 2016, albeit in the slimmed-down version with seven players and two seven-minute matches.
