Olympic Games: South Africa stun New Zealand while Antoine Dupont adds gloss to famous France win

Adam Kyriacou 25 Jul 2024 10:21 PM

South Africa shocked New Zealand in their Medal Quarter-Final.

South Africa, France, Fiji and Australia will contest the Medal Semi-Finals of the men’s competition as Rugby Sevens put on a show in the Olympic Games in Paris.

The Blitzboks stunned New Zealand 14-7 in the opening quarter-final, this after sneaking into the knockout stages thanks to a 49-5 win over Japan earlier in the day.

Hosts France then shocked the much-fancied Argentina 26-14 as a late try from Antoine Dupont put the seal on an impressive team showing at the Stade de France.

Fiji edge out Ireland

It was then the turn of Fiji and Ireland to contest an epic third quarter-final and the islanders managed to cling on despite a late Irish charge to seal a 19-15 victory.

The last Medal knockout game of Thursday was played out between Australia and the USA, with the former coming out on top 18-0 to end a pulsating day’s action.

Those four results mean that Saturday’s men’s Medal Semi-Finals will see South Africa take on France and Fiji face off with Australia in two mouth-watering games.

🥇 The men's Medal Semi-Finals set to take place on Saturday!#RugbySevens #Olympics #OlympicGames #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/IAZO7FCKZh

— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) July 25, 2024

New Zealand will subsequently clash with Argentina while Ireland tackle USA, with that quartet battling it out to finish in fifth place as they look to end on a positive.

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9th Place Semi-Finals

Earlier, Samoa made light work of Japan in the first game of the evening as they eased to a 42-7 victory that will see them contest Saturday’s 9th Place Final in Paris.

Their opponents will be Pool B rivals Kenya after they edged Uruguay in a golden point 19-14 win thanks to Patrick Odongo’s blistering long-range try in extra time.

Pool conclusion

The day’s action kicked off with the conclusion of the pool stages as teams jostled to finish in top spot while others were fighting for a Medal Quarter-Final place.

In the Pool B decider Australia got the better of SVNS series giants Argentina 22-14, this after Samoa had claimed their first win, comfortably defeating Kenya 26-0.

USA then got the better of Uruguay 33-17 thanks to four tries from star Perry Baker, a feat that saw him draw level with Carlin Isles on nine scores in the Olympics.

While the USA would finish third in Pool C, they would still qualify for the men’s Medal Quarter-Finals with Fiji finishing atop that pool after beating France 19-12.

The final pool matches saw South Africa beat Japan 49-5 to qualify for the main knockouts before New Zealand recovered from 12-0 down to defeat Ireland 14-12.