The Albany Gazette - Dupont shines as France held by USA in Olympics sevens opener

Dupont played 12 minutes of the 12-12 Pool C draw, the Americans scoring the equalising try after he had been subbed off.

"It was a huge atmosphere for us," said Dupont. "It's not common for us to play in this kind of stadium.

"We have to embrace this atmopshere and embrace this pressure to play a better game the next game.

"It's always a lot of emotion when you play with all your supporters so it's important to deal with that and to be better even with the pressure."

Dupont has established himself as one of world rugby's best players and the scrum-half cuts an iconic figure in France.

The 27-year-old took the gamble of missing the Six Nations to make the French Olympic team, a move that led to some criticism.

- Dupont factor -

But the combative half-back put that to one side, going on to help France to two wins on the World Rugby Sevens Series, including victory in the Madrid finals.

In between, he skippered his club Toulouse to Top 14 and Champions Cup glory in the 15-a-side code.

Against the Americans at the Stade de France, Dupont was named in the starting seven, coach Jerome Daret having previously used the playmaker largely as a super-sub from the bench.

Wearing the number 11 shirt, Dupont's first touch saw him play flyer Jefferson-Lee Joseph into space, the scrum-half quickly following up and first into the ruck.

Joseph failed to hold on to a giant miss pass Dupont threw out as France camped out in American territory, eventually opening the scoring through Jordan Sepho.

Dupont, who quickly established himself as one of the most formidable counter-ruckers on the sevens circuit, could do nothing as Lucas Lacamp broke clear to equal the scores, Steve Tomasin converting to give the USA a 7-5 half-time lead.

Dupont opened the second period with a strong fend that drew two defenders and a deft offload saw captain Paulin Riva skip away.

He was hauled down, the ball recycled and Rayan Rebbadj crossed to hand France the lead.

Dupont produced a great flying tackle to bring down Kevon Williams, forcing a knock-on.

With that, the Frenchman exited the pitch, with two minutes remaining.

The US, however, immediately hit back through Marcus Tupuola to leave the scores level at 12 points apiece.

The crowd gave a collective sigh of relief as Madison Hughes missed what would have been a match-winning conversion.

Dupont's presence ensured a 69,000-capacity crowd at the Stade de France, with World Rugby expecting more than half a million fans to attend the six days of sevens action.

The last time Dupont had played at the stadium north of Paris was in a 29-28 defeat for France against South Africa in the Rugby World Cup quarter-final in October.

Dupont's absence from the Six Nations to focus on making the Olympic team did not sit well with many traditionalists.

But his appearance at the Paris Games remains a huge coup not only for French rugby as a whole, but also the organisers.

(P.Clark--TAG)