France hero Antoine Dupont has described his sevens debut as ‘scary’ ahead of representing his country at the Olympics later this year. Dupont, who is widely regarded as one of the best players in the world, is not taking part in the Six Nations as he looks to familiarise himself with the shorter form of the game.
Dupont got his first taste of international sevens at last weekend’s World Rugby SVNS series and excelled despite France being knocked out by New Zealand in the semi-finals. In the third place match, he scored a try and set up two more as Les Bleus earned a convincing 42-12 victory over the USA.
Reflecting on his debut, Dupont admitted that he still has plenty of work to do ahead of the Olympics after describing his first professional sevens experience as ‘scary’.
“You just have to watch the guys on the pitch to understand why it was scary,” he told RugbyPass. “There are very fast guys and they’ve known this game for a very long time. I’m new on the series so I have to learn. I have to do my best from the first game until the last.”All the action on the field makes me more confident. I have to spend time on the field, spend time with the guys to know them better. I have to learn every minute when I am on the field. I played a lot when I was 16, 17 years old. After I became pro it was more difficult to play sevens so I just watched the game on TV and I watched a lot of players who are here now.”
