“We feel that the Olympic Games are something special in the hearts of the French,” confides Antoine Dupont.

On Saturday July 27, the Stade de France capsized against Fiji, double Olympic medalists and rather favorites in the rugby 7s competition. “We were under a lot of pressure, we knew they knew the level of the event”declares Paulin Riva on the set of the 8 p.m. news.

According to Antoine Dupont, the atmosphere in the stadium carried the players. “We really feel that the Olympics are something special in the hearts of the French. There was a real fervour, an electric support in the stadium and I think that really launched the competition”he confides. If Paulin Riva congratulated him for having “very well integrated into the team” At 7, the French XV player estimated “very hard to do both”. According to him, when they both played at the Auch club (Gers), “We could not have imagined a hundredth of what we have been experiencing since yesterday”.