Seven minutes to write history – Dupont only needed 21 seconds.

From the kick-off, he won the ball and drove down the line, powered by his tenacity and energised by the fanatic French fans. Moments earlier, there were nervous faces everywhere, but as Dupont burst through and set up Aaron Grandidier Nkanang for the try, the sea of blue, white and red erupted.

Just as the Parisian sky began to clear up, Dupont and France found their rhythm and did not look back.

Dupont stole the show with two terrific tries in the space of two minutes. For the first, his touch-and-go was followed by a ferocious drive through several Fiji players. He made sure of gold with his second try right at the death, winning the ball from the line-out and seeing the ball and Olympic title over the line.

France’s first gold medal of their home Games came in the most perfect way possible, in a sport so ingrained into their culture at their national stadium in the capital. This was better than any French fan could have hoped for, more poetic than anything they could have written. And of course, the author of the victory was Dupont.