Rugby Sevens has finished its circuit and promises an open and exciting Paris 2024

Technically, the cold news announces that the 2023-24 rugby sevens season is over.

Three exciting days, at the Cívitas Metropolitano, home of Atlético de Madrid, in Spain, ranged from the winners of the final competition of the season to the reorganization with promotions, relegations and stays to determine the 12 teams that will play the next stage in the first level and which will be the 12 that will do so in the so-called Challenge, something like a ranking from 13th to 24th place in the circuit.

However, rugby - like athletics, swimming, artistic gymnastics and much of the universe that make up the so-called summer sports - also believes, despite its main annual competition, that the most important thing is yet to come. In Paris and between July 24 and 30 next.

The final round of the regular season was conquered by the Australians and the French. The girls defeat France. And the men, Argentina.

Nothing new among the ladies, considering that, in the Olympic adventure, Australia won the gold medal in Rio 2016 — five years later it fell to Fiji in the quarterfinals — while France won the silver in Tokyo, just below New Zealand.

On the contrary, the scenario among boys is decidedly uncertain.

Just to begin with, it is symptomatic that the wizards of Fiji, those for whom the specialty seemed to have been created for decades, barely obtained two third places in the eight stops of the season. Little and nothing for those who, among other things, are the current champions of Rio and Tokyo. It is true that the last of those third places has just been achieved in Madrid, to the detriment of New Zealand. The All Blacks, who won the silver medal three years ago, seemed to have corrected the course after winning the recent stops in Hong Kong and Singapore, but being left out of the podium of this kind of Masters reserved for the eight best teams of the year opens a question mark.

Ireland, which had an excellent performance starting with, most likely, the best defense on the circuit, was a shadow in Spain where it finished fifth, the worst place for the clover team. They didn’t win any titles but they always came in second and fourth.

The men’s tournament, which will exceptionally start two days before the opening ceremony of the games, still has one box to be defined out of the twelve that will be in France. The event will take place in three weeks, at the Louis II Stadium in Monaco. The news is that, since there is only one place left available, powers such as Great Britain or South Africa will be left out of the Olympic event. If not both, given the growth of teams like Spain, which will also be in the game.

What, then, about the Madrid finalists? The emblematic case is that of France, a historically powerful rugby 15 nation that barely scored 20 points in the first three phases of the year - a sixth place in Perth had been its best - but which, since then, has won four podiums in the following five stages.

On the one hand, it should come as no surprise that France strives to the point of having a favorite performance in its own land in a sport that is extremely popular in its territory. On the other hand, and in line with the essence of their project, France incorporated Antoine Dupont, the current scrum half of Stade Toulousain, considered by many to be the best rugby player of today. Winner of two Top 14s and one European Cup, he could find compensation in the Games for the upset of not being able to play the last world cup of 15 due to injury. Clearly, the inclusion of Dupont has been decisive in raising the game and self-esteem of a team that, even though Antoine doesn’t usually play much more than one of the seven-minute periods - often without being part of the starting team - seems to be a much more confident and determined team after the arrival of the tremendous strategist.

Finally, Argentina. Los Pumas. Defeated severely in the final, not without a dose of controversy due to some mischievous failures of the English referee, they closed a brilliant circuit - they were the winners of the season by sum of points - with an unpleasant image after an end of the match with pushes and some fist blows, an episode that ended with the expulsion of Rodrigo Isgró, chosen as the best player of the year in the specialty.

Beyond the ugly image of the closure, Los Pumas, bronze medal winners in Tokyo, are going through the best moment in their history. Although they performed from lowest to highest starting with three titles and a second place, the final reached in Madrid after beating Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand and France itself in the qualifying phase, placing them back as the rival to beat.

No minor detail is that of the absences of Marcos Moneta, the tryman of the moment, and Matias Osadsczuk, one of the leaders of the squad, who are not at risk for Paris but were out of shape for Madrid. What’s more, for the final they dispensed with Joaquin Pellandini, a player who established himself as a point guard and starter during this brilliant year.

In any case, whatever good or bad they have left for each team this season, the stage for Paris is absolutely open. And exciting. All the more so considering that the men’s Olympic champion will celebrate the first day of competition after the inauguration.

In this regard, the team that achieves a better cross for the quarterfinals will have an important advantage. It gives the impression that, in that instance, there will be great candidates who will fall by the wayside.

After all, there seem to be no less than five favorites. And only three places on the podium.