first final for Antoine Dupont with the Blues, author of a new try against Ireland

This time, France beat Ireland. In a committed and intense match from start to finish like rugby sevens knows how to offer, the Blues won their first final of the season, Sunday March 3 in Los Angeles, almost a year after their last on the world circuit in Vancouver (33-21 loss to Argentina) in 2023.

One try just before the break, another as soon as the restart

The match started badly after Jordan Conroy opened the score after 40 seconds, but Antoine Dupont immediately responded to the Irish by finding the opening in the middle of the field, before resisting the return of the defense (7- 7, 2e).

After five minutes of a bitter defensive battle, the Tricolores managed to score in transition through Rayan Rebbadj, after the siren (12-7, 7th+1). The second half started perfectly with a try from Riva upon receiving the Irish kick-off to make the break (19-7, 8th).

France has not won a world tournament since 2005

In a second half of the match where fatigue was felt, Terry Kennedy for the 7 of Clover, then Antoine Zeghdar after a delicious counter from the French goal went blow for blow ( 26-12, 11th). In the process, Ireland returned to 7 points thanks to a try from Zac Ward, and even scored the try to hope to come back to the level after the allotted time, but they missed the transformation of the equalizer, difficult in corner, (26-24, final score).

France took the opportunity to reach the final of a very open tournament where the six best teams in the general ranking of the season before Los Angeles were eliminated. The Blues, ranked seventh, will face the British (to be continued at 3:23 a.m. on france.tv), tenth, whom they have always beaten in three clashes this season, including Saturday in the pools (19-12). The French men’s rugby sevens team has only won one stage of the world circuit in its history: in 2005 in Paris.