By Rohith Nair and Vincent Daheron
PARIS (Reuters) -Antoine Dupont scored a brilliant individual try as France kept alive their medal hopes despite a stuttering start to the Rugby Sevens tournament in front of a passionate home crowd at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday.
Reigning champions Fiji, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand and Ireland secured spots in the quarter-finals with two wins out of two at the Stade de France but the hosts will have to wait until Thursday to see if they can make the last eight.
The French, who have looked like genuine title contenders since Dupont made the switch to Sevens after last year’s Rugby World Cup, had been expected to make light work of Pool C but were held 12-12 by the United States in their opener.
They were trailing 7-5 to Uruguay at halftime of their second match but Dupont broke through a series of tackles to touch down under the posts and set the hosts on their way to a 19-12 victory.
“The atmosphere was good and helped us to win. Maybe we did not do our best but hopefully it is going to help us more in the next game,” said Dupont.
“We need to raise our level. If not, we will not go too far. We need to be focused on the game and not distracted because we are capable of better.”
Fiji, who have had an iron grip on the gold medal in the sport’s short Olympic history, suffered no such stage fright, thrashing Uruguay 40-12 and the U.S. 38-12 to top Pool C.
Argentina brushed off the hostility of the crowd, who booed their national anthem in a spillover from France’s loss in the 2022 soccer World Cup final, with a 31-12 romp over Kenya and a 28-12 victory over Samoa in Pool B.
“I was surprised today when we came out against Kenya and they started to boo,” said Argentina’s Gaston Revol.
“But it is okay. I understand it is because of a soccer game or something, maybe. They hate us. But I can work with it. We will be okay.”
Australia beat Samoa 21-14 and Kenya 21-7 to join them in the quarter-finals and will play the top-ranked Argentines on Thursday to decide which side tops the pool.
Ireland locked up their spot in the last eight from Pool A with a tight 10-5 win over South Africa and a 40-5 blowout of Japan.
New Zealand, silver medallists in Tokyo three years ago, also thrashed Japan 40-12 before prevailing 17-5 in a bruising encounter with South Africa on the back of two tries from winger Moses Leo.
South Africa could still progress as one of the two third-placed finishers from the three pools who will complete the quarter-final line-up.
Although the opening ceremony of the Olympics is not until Friday, soccer and rugby sevens preliminary rounds got underway on Wednesday for logistical reasons.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair, Vincent Daheron and Nick Mulvenney, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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