Vancouver (AFP) – Antoine Dupont scored a try deep into injury time to send France into the semi-finals of the Canada Sevens on Saturday with a 12-5 quarter-final victory over Ireland.
Dupont, France’s regular 15-a-side captain and scrum-half who has switched to sevens in order to play in this year’s Olympics, settled a tense battle with the final play of the game at Vancouver’s BC Place stadium.
The former world player of the year, who came on as a substitute, burst down the blindside from a scrum to dot down in the corner for an opportunistic score.
It completed a gutsy comeback for France, who at one stage were reduced to five men after seeing both Joseph Jefferson Lee and Rayan Rebbadj pick up yellow cards in quick succession.
France, who face a semi-final meeting against New Zealand on Sunday, had earlier dismantled Australia 31-5 in their final Pool B game, with Dupont among France’s five try-scorers.
A win over New Zealand could leave France facing a repeat of last year’s final, which they lost to Argentina.
Argentina advanced to the last four on Saturday with a hard-fought 14-12 win over Samoa in their quarter-final.
On the other side of the draw, the United States routed Great Britain 27-0 to book their semi-final berth.
New Zealand, meanwhile, held off a ferocious late fightback from Fiji to win 21-19.
The Canada Sevens is the fourth stop on World Rugby’s eight-tournament SVNS Series following tournaments in Dubai, Cape Town and Perth.
