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• Paris Olympics: Home hero Dupont sends France into rugby sevens semi-finals

  Antoine Dupont sealed hosts France's progression to the rugby sevens semi-finals as his late try clinched victory over Argentina at the Paris Olympics.

  Dupont, voted the 2021 World Player of the Year, missed out on this year's Six Nations to prepare himself for the sevens at the Games.

  And he scored a brilliant solo try in the dying seconds at a jam-packed Stade de France to wrap up a 26-14 triumph over Argentina on Thursday.

  Aaron Grandidier had earlier crossed the line twice along with back-rower Andy Timo's opener in a dominant first half, though Argentina fought back after the break.

  Rodrigo Isgro responded for Los Pumas before Marcos Moneta sneaked over after France were reduced to six when Jordan Sepho was sin-binned.

  Yet home favourite Dupont stepped up in the decisive moment, whipping the crowd into frenzy after setting up a last-four meeting against South Africa, who overcame New Zealand in the quarter-finals.

  South Africa finished third in Pool A as New Zealand topped the group, but the Springboks exacted revenge against the All Blacks to secure a semi-final berth.

  The Springboks raced into a two-try lead before holding out for a 14-7 victory to stun one of the pre-tournament favourites.

  Fiji, champions in 2016 when the event was first introduced and four years later in Tokyo, unexpectedly found themselves up against it as Chay Mullins bundled over twice to snatch a 10-7 lead for Ireland at half-time.

  Zac Ward extended the Irish lead but two tries in less than 30 seconds from Selestino Ravutaumada and Terio Tamani snatched a 19-15 turnaround.

  The two-time Olympic champions will meet Australia after the Wallabies downed the United States with ease.

  Corey Toole and James Turner both crossed in the first half en route to a convincing 18-0 triumph in the final match of the day, sending Australia into their first rugby sevens semi-final at the Olympics.

• Durant warns Team USA 'everybody is a contender' in Olympic basketball tournament

  Kevin Durant has warned Team USA they will not have an easy ride through the basketball tournament at the Paris Olympic Games, declaring: "Everybody is a contender".

  The United States will go in search of a fifth straight men's basketball gold in the French capital, where they open their Group C campaign against Serbia on Sunday.

  After that meeting with Nikola Jokic and company, the star-studded USA team featuring Durant, LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid and a host of other NBA stars take on South Sudan and Puerto Rico.

  With Steve Kerr having so much talent at his disposal, the roster has been compared to that of the 1992 'Dream Team', who took gold in Barcelona behind the efforts of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Scottie Pippen and other great names.

  However, at a press conference ahead of Team USA's 2024 opener, Curry reminded reporters that the class of 1992 only faced nine other active NBA players.

  Durant is expecting a much tougher assignment this year, responding to Curry by saying: "Everybody is a contender. Everyone is here for a reason.

  "We're playing against 65 or 64 NBA players in Paris. So you know they're the best in the world."

  Asked to identify the main players to watch from other nations, the Phoenix Suns forward said: "Giannis [Antetokounmpo] or Jokic."

  While Durant adopted a cautious tone, Golden State Warriors star Curry was more bullish regarding the USA's gold medal hopes.

  Quizzed on who he was most excited about facing, Curry simply said: "Whoever's in the gold medal game."

• France 3-0 United States: Slow-starting hosts rally to opening Olympics win

  Hosts France recovered from a slow start to ease to a 3-0 opening win over the United States at Paris 2024 on Wednesday.

  There has been plenty of excitement around the home nation heading into the men's Olympic tournament, with coach Thierry Henry selecting a strong squad even with superstars like Kylian Mbappe absent.

  Yet it took more than an hour for the match in Marseille to spark into life, and even then France were reliant on a moment of magic from captain Alexandre Lacazette.

  The United States were the better side up until Lacazette's breakthrough goal, with Djordje Mihailovic thundering against the crossbar shortly before the veteran striker went up the other end and picked out the bottom-left corner.

  A frantic spell followed in which France twice could have been pegged back, grateful first to Guillaume Restes for a superb save from Paxten Aaronson and then to the goal frame as John Tolkin headed against the post.

  Instead, a second goal against the run of play settled the nerves in the stands as Bayern Munich new boy Michael Olise curled a fine finish around Patrick Schulte from outside the box.

  And Loic Bade added further gloss with a header from a Joris Chotard corner five minutes from time, while Griffin Yow saw a late consolation goal struck off for offside.

  Data Debrief: Belated home comfort for Les Bleus

  On paper, the gulf between the two teams was evident in the scoreline, but for those home fans in Marseille who grew audibly agitated early in the second half, this was far from easy viewing.

  Although France finished with three goals, they only created chances worth 0.43 expected goals (xG). The strikes by Lacazette and Olise were inspired individual efforts rather than the result of fine team play.

  Winning gold as the hosts is not easy in this event – only four nations (Great Britain in 1908, Belgium in 1920, Spain in 1992 and Brazil in 2016) have done so previously in 27 attempts – but more will be expected of Henry's outfit going forward.