Antoine Dupont delivers individual brilliance as France unofficially open their Olympics in Paris with a rugby sevens triumph over Uruguay… after an opening draw with the USA

With a victorious strike on the bell from the Notre-Dame Cathedral, these games were declared unofficially open. 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 honour 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 as an occasion it was a resounding success.

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 individual 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, capitalising on nervy French handling errors, America finished level thanks to a late Macrus Tupuola try.

Dupont and his France team-mates had the curtain raising moment for the Paris Olympics

France drew their opening match against the United States before edging past Uruguay

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. The crowd chanted his name as he departed, watching from the sidelines as his team-mates clung on for a desperately needed victory.