France delivered a dazzling performance to overwhelm Argentina, their recent rivals, as the hosts advanced to the semi-finals of the Olympic men’s sevens in front of an ecstatic Parisian crowd.
London-born wing Aaron Grandidier scored two brilliant tries in a 26-14 victory for Les Bleus, leading jubilant celebrations with 70,000 supporters at the Stade de France.
French fans have been upset by the behavior of Argentina’s footballers towards their nation.
Tensions between the two countries’ football teams have escalated, with Argentina’s exuberant celebration of their 2022 World Cup win and players recently filmed chanting a song deemed racist against their French counterparts.
This animosity led to Los Pumas being angrily booed when they entered the Stade de France for each of their matches at the Olympic event.
The atmosphere was electric in the early stages of Thursday’s quarter-final, and the intensity of the French players matched it.
“I know we’ve only just won a quarter-final but the emotions we’re living in this stadium we have never experienced,” Grandidier told BBC Sport.
“It is really moving. Having 69,000 people for a game of sevens has never been seen in history.”
Grandidier stars as France produce ‘XXL performance’
Following a series of lackluster performances in the pool stage, where they finished second behind Fiji, this was a statement performance from France.
Back-rower Andy Timo scored the opening try after two minutes, followed by 24-year-old Aaron Grandidier, who has an English father and a French mother, storming in twice down the right.
Rayan Rebbadj added the conversions, giving France a 21-0 lead at halftime, despite talisman Antoine Dupont starting on the bench.
“We knew we had to start strong against a team like Argentina, they have been so good this season,” said Grandidier.
“If we didn’t put in a XXL performance against them we knew we would be in trouble.”
Argentina narrowed the deficit to 21-14 through tries from Rodrigo Isgro and Marcos Moneta after the break, with Joaquin Pellandini kicking the extras.
Dupont, the irrepressible 15s superstar who is one of the poster boys of the Games, came on to add some nous as France played patiently to slow down their opponent’s momentum.
Of course, Dupont had to sprinkle some magic too. The scrum-half ran in a late try to seal victory and end Argentina’s hopes of what would have been seen as a villainous comeback.
Grandidier was at the centre of the celebrations after the final whistle, high-fiving the gleeful supporters on the front row behind the dugout.
“We need to play without pressure which maybe let us down the first couple of games but we set the record straight,” he said.