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France focused on Olympic glory after positive Sevens start / Photo: © AFP
France focused on Olympic glory after positive Sevens start
Rugby sevens veteran Jonathan Laugel believes France have put themselves in a solid position to savour Olympic success after a pair of hard-fought wins on the opening day of the Singapore Sevens on Friday.
The French made a perfect start at the National Stadium, blanking Samoa 17-0 in their Pool B opener before holding off a determined Spain 17-12 in their second game.
The wins may not have been comfortable but Laugel feels it was what his team needed to build momentum for the Olympics this summer.
"We had a tough game against Samoa, especially in the rucks where we had to fight really hard and against Spain, we had to be really strong against the ball carrier and resist their tackles," said the 31-year-old who made his international sevens debut in 2012.
"It's always a tough game against Spain and it's always super close. They played well but we played well also so now we're ready to fight in our next game against South Africa. It was a good game against Spain and I'm really happy that we won that one."
France have been in good form in the sevens series of late, finishing third in Vancouver in February, winning the Los Angeles tournament in March and reaching the final in Hong Kong last month.
"We've been in good form and we know that our hard work is paying off. Now we have to secure the best result we can in Singapore so that we get a good ranking for the Olympic draw," added Laugel.
"Everyone has the same goal which is winning the gold medal at home. We just have that in mind and we know that in order to reach that goal, we need to move ahead, step by step, by winning and being better and better at each tournament.
"That's what we did in Vancouver and in Los Angeles and Hong Kong. We increased our game, we improved our game and now we need to continue that momentum in Singapore."
The French are tied for top spot in Pool B with South Africa who have maximum points after seeing off Spain 31-7 and Samoa 10-5 in the first two games.
Australia also have a perfect record after a 26-19 win over sevens series leaders Argentina and a 21-14 victory over Canada in Pool A.
Argentina bounced back from the loss to Australia with a stunning 33-5 win over New Zealand in the final game of the day.
Fiji have work to do if they hope to reach the quarterfinals after they lost both of their Pool C games, 33-14 to the United States and 19-14 to Great Britain.
The regular season winners of the sevens series will be decided in Singapore with the top eight teams going through to the grand final in Madrid later this month.
The bottom four sides will compete in a promotion-relegation event to determine the core teams for next season's series.
In the women's tournament in Singapore, France also made a strong start, crushing Japan 41-7 in their opening game before running in seven unanswered tries in a 49-0 demolition of South Africa.
Series co-leaders Australia and New Zealand also enjoyed perfect starts with the Australians beating Brazil 27-10 and Great Britain 44-0 while New Zealand cruised past Spain 38-7 and Ireland 31-12.
P. da Silva--JDB
