by Olympic gold medalist Antoine Dupont was named to the French rugby union team on Wednesday, just over three months after his sparkling performances for the sevens team during their rise to prominence at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games .
Dupont, 27, did not take part in the 2024 Six Nations tournament as he put himself through his paces with the sevens teams for the Olympic tournament.
The change ended perfectly for the 2021 International Player of the Year.
His appearance in the second half of the final against defending champions Fiji sparked a comeback victory and gave France its first gold medal of the Games.
The hosts then collected 15 more as part of a 64-medal haul that took them to fifth place in the medal table – the best performance by a European country.
This will be Dupont’s first appearance for France since their narrow defeat to South Africa in the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-final at the Stade de France.
Absences
Notable absences from Fabien Galthié’s squad are Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou.
The two 21-year-old men were accused of raping a 39-year-old woman in a hotel room after a nightclub outing following the first match of France’s summer tour of South America.
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