As captain of France men’s sevens squad, Riva has experienced many of the sport’s highest highs, including the great Olympic gold medal run at Paris 2024. The Bordeaux leg of the tour may not have the all the headline grandeur of that, but for Riva it is perhaps just as special.
“I played in Bordeaux from 2014 to 2016,” Riva explains. “Those were fantastic years for me, with my first Champions Cup appearances and, above all, our French Espoirs [the under-21s] winning the Championship junior title against Clermont-Ferrand.”
Nearly a decade later, Riva returns not as a promising young player with stars in his eyes, but as an Olympic champion, and the skipper of one of the most successful rugby sevens teams in the world.
“It is definitely special for us,” he says. “We will have a lot of support from the fans, and we also want to show that rugby sevens has its important place in the French rugby landscape.”
Sevens has traditionally lived in the shadow of the 15-a-side game in France, where club rugby enjoys enormous popularity and has deep, enduring cultural roots. But the success of the men’s and women’s national sevens programme has transformed perceptions, drawing new audiences and players, and proving that the shorter format can capture the imagination of not just the rugby-loving public, but the public beyond.
While some unions, such as England and Ireland, have pulled back from sevens recently, France Rugby has done the opposite. Rather than the two codes operating as separate worlds, the goal is to create a fluid pathway from one to the other, which allows players to move between the 15-a-side and sevens formats – broadening their skills, life experience and conditioning, all while building the national talent pool.
In fact, the French Rugby Federation’s Objectif 2028 strategy is built on a closer relationship between the national sevens programme and France’s professional 15s clubs. Collaboration between France Sevens and the Top 14, ProD2, and National 1 is seen as key to success at the LA 28 Games, and Riva’s decision to pursue rugby sevens marked a turning point in his own career.
“I decided to switch to rugby sevens because I wanted to rediscover a style of rugby built on movement, creativity and resilience,” he says.
“What I love about sevens is being constantly involved in the game, and having to perform so many different tasks in such a short amount of time.”
Central to France’s strengthening links between both versions of the game was the arrival of Antoine Dupont, the superstar scrum-half widely regarded as one of the greatest players in global rugby.
Dupont made the bold decision to temporarily leave France’s 15-a-side programme and dedicate himself to the Olympic Sevens project, a gamble that paid off in spectacular style. In the Olympic final, he came off the bench to set up a try and score twice, helping France overturn Fiji and secure a historic victory in front of a historic and ecstatic home crowd.
For Riva, Dupont is not just a rugby icon – Dupont’s story has intersected closely with his own.
Both players emerged from the rugby culture of south-west France, playing junior rugby at FC Auch during their development years.
“I was born in Auch, where I started playing rugby at the age of six. I am a little older than Antoine, so we didn’t play together in the same mini teams then, but I played in the same age group alongside his older brother, Clément, so the families were close and we knew each other well.”
Dupont and Riva’s relationship became one of the key storylines of France’s Olympic campaign.
Rather than seeing Dupont’s arrival as a disruption, Riva embraced the opportunity to help integrate one of rugby’s biggest stars into a close-knit squad. After the Olympic victory, he was quick to praise the collective spirit that allowed the team to maximise Dupont’s impact while maintaining the identity that had brought them to the Games.
Together, the two captains helped deliver the greatest moment in French rugby sevens.
“Antoine is the best player in the world,” Riva says simply and warmly. “He was able to understand things incredibly quickly and fitted into the group well. The emotions we experienced together were incredible. We wanted to show the world a new image of rugby, one that is fresh, open-minded and exciting, and we also wanted to help showcase rugby Sevens as a valued part of French sport.”
French rugby has long been associated with the concept of esprit de clocher, which literally translates as the ‘spirit of the church steeple’. The idea is that players perform with extra passion at home, because they can hear the church bells of their town ringing in support.
Whether in the Top 14, ProD2, Fédérale 1 or on the international stage, that powerful connection between club, community, cultural history and identity goes a long way in explaining why French teams are so often so formidable on home soil.
“My entire family will be there this weekend, along with my partner and my three-year-old daughter,” says Riva. “It is important for them to be present, because rugby is deeply rooted in our family. My father, uncle and brother all played rugby.”
For Riva, Bordeaux is where many dreams first took shape. Today, it is where he hopes to inspire the next generation to discover the excitement of rugby sevens, and to believe that their own journey can begin in exactly the same way.