Dupont carries weight of opening day to ease host nation's nerves

Face of the Games shows his genius to help French rugby sevens team to much-needed victory against Uruguay

- Tumaini Carayol

As the French rugby sevens team returned for their second game of a frenzied start to the Olympic Games, there was, unexpectedly, some jeopardy involved. An obvious reason why these contests had started so early, two days before the opening ceremony, was the hope that this highly rated French team, topped by a sprinkling of Antoine Dupont's greatness, would set the tone as France's first athletes in competition for an incredible event to come.

But in their opening contest of the day, three and a half hours earlier, France had stumbled to a12-12 draw against a solid USA team. Under no circumstances could that be repeated.

Their return to the pitch was soundtracked by roars of "Allez les Bleus" and multiple renditions of La Marseillaise from afull crowd of nearly 80,000 spectators. But again, they were sluggish and sloppy against a gritty Uruguayan team. They closed out the first half of their must-win game trailing 5-7.