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.
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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.
